Challenge Complete - 2012 Year of the Fantasy Classic

Objective:
To try and read some of the classic fantasy novels that I have just never gotten around to reading before. Check out my pre challenge post here!

Aim:
Read 12 Fantasy Novels that were published prior to my birth year (1981)

Result:
Well as with a lot of my 2012 challenges I finished the final book in December which means I was cutting it close!

I've read-

Peter Pan J.M. Barrie	The Last Unicorn Peter S. Beagle
The Wind in the Willows Kenneth Grahame	Watership Down Richard Adams
The Princess Bride William Goldman	The Dragon and The George Gordon R. Dickson
The Broken Sword Poul Anderson	The Wonderful Wizard of Oz L. Frank Baum
A Wizard of Earthsea Ursula K Le Guin	Over Sea, Under Stone Susan Cooper
The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe C.S. Lewis	Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll

As you can see I really have picked books from a wide period of time, from 1865 to 1976. They were all very different from each other and whilst I found some of them to be only average, others I loved. My favourite had to be Watership Down which funnily enough was the one I wasn't sure I would even like.

Summary:
I am happy that I have finally read some true classics of the genre as I always felt that perhaps I was missing out by not reading them.

The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe (Narnia Book 1) - C.S. Lewis

Title: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe (Narnia Book 1)
Author: C.S. Lewis
Genre: Fantasy
Published: 1950
Formats: Hardback/Paperback/Ebook

Available at:
Amazon
The Book Depository
Kobo
Amazon UK

“The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe” by C.S. Lewis is another classic children’s story that I have previously never read. Oh I have seen the Movies & TV Shows that are based on the book so I know what the story is about but I never actually got around to reading it. I suppose that I just felt there was no need to read it based on what I had seen on both the small and big screen.

For the few people out there that don’t already know the story, I can reveal that the plot follows a group of four children; siblings Peter, Edmund, Susan and Lucy who accidently journey to a fantastical land called Narnia. Whilst there they discover talking animals and other magical creatures, many of who are determined to help the children fulfil a prophecy that will involve them helping to defeat the evil white witch who has put all of Narnia into an eternal winter.

Now that I have read the book I have to be honest and say that I wasn’t really wrong in thinking that after seeing the movie and TV show there was no real reason to read the book. In fact I actually think I preferred following the story on the screen as the story is entirely intact but it just seemed more exciting and the characters seemed more believable and easier to emotionally engage with. In fact the lack of characterisation in the book is probably its biggest flaws and as I found it hard to care about what was going on when the characters presented were so bland and undeveloped.

However, that doesn’t mean the book is bad because it isn’t, the plot is simple and well-constructed so that children should find it easy to follow and enjoy. The story also heavily promotes bravery, selflessness and consideration of others which most parents should be more than happy for their children to take on board. One aspect of the Narnia tales that people deride is the fact that it is a Christian allegory which can upset some of the more devout atheists out there. Personally, I noticed the obvious reference to the crucifixion and resurrection but the rest just passed me by. I just found the story to be an escapist fantasy adventure that will have children checking wardrobes the world over.

In summary, I didn’t read it as a child so maybe that is why I wasn’t captivated and I don’t really worry about religious undertones in novels so unlike others I don’t hate it either. I just found it to be an okay, enjoyable enough and a likely fun story to read to my own children when they are older. Then again, I may just skip the book and sit them down to watch the movie which I believe captures this magical plot in a much more modern and entertaining manner.

Ps. I understand that some people like to say that this is the 2nd book in the series but I prefer to stick with the publishing order. Especially when the prequel novel may actually spoil some of the surprised and curiosity’s that you discover when reading this novel.

Challenges Book Counts Towards:
Speculative Fiction Challenge
Year of the Fantasy Classic Challenge

Challenge Complete - Another 2012 E-Book Reading Challenge

Objective:
To make an even bigger dent in my collection of Ebooks than I was planning on making with the other Ebook reading challenge I was taking part in. Check out my pre challenge post here!

Aim:
Memory stick = 50 Books

Result:
I finally completed the final book of the challenge in December which meant I was cutting it rather close but I have at least made a good dent in my reading pile.

I've read-

Hide & Seek Thomas Kaplan-maxfield	Port of Errors Steve V Cypert
Gamers Thomas K. Carpenter	Enterprise: The Expanse J.M. Dillard
Containment Christian Cantrell	This Dark Magic Chryse Wymer
Enterprise: Last Full Measure Michael A. Martin	Fezariu's Epiphany David M. Brown
On Dark Shores: The Lady J.A. Clement	Enterprise: Daedalus Dave Stern
The Eyes of the Dead G.R. Yeates	The Last Man of Earth Club Paul R. Hardy
Enterprise: Daedalus's Children Dave Stern	Brave New World Aldous Huxley
Known Afterlife Trey Copeland	Enterprise: Rosetta Dave Stern
Shadowing: A Henchman's Tale Kat Zantow	An Epitaph for Coyote: A Novel Bryan R. Dennis
Runing Wide Open Lisa Nowak	Fires of  Alexandria Thomas K. Carpenter
Terminal Departure: A Cleo Matts Novel Joe Crubaugh	Enterprise: The Good That Men Do Andy Mangels & Michael Martin
Foundation for the Lost Scott Rhine	Waiting For Daybreak Amanda McNeil
Enterprise: Kobayashi Maru Michael A. Martin & Andy Mangels	Beloved of the Fallen Savannah Kline
Mirror Shards: Volume One Edited by Thomas K. Carpenter	Robopocalypse Daniel H. Wilson
Enterprise: Beneath The Raptor's Wing Michael A. Martin	Enterprise: To Brave the Storm Michael A. Martin
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea Jules Verne	Saving JFK W. Green
Discontents James Birch Wallace	War of the Witch Angel Haze
The God Virus J.E. Murphy	Peter Pan J.M. Barrie
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll	The Wonderful Wizard of Oz L. Frank Baum
Scavengers Cynthia Echterling	The Harvest Scott Nicholson
Gabriel's Redemption Steve Umstead	Gabriel's Return Steve Umstead
The Great Yellow Doom Bird Jon A. Hunt	Tribes Carmen Webster Buxton
Wired Douglas E. Richards	Future Destinies Chris Turner
Revamp Beck Sherman	Doodling Jonathan Gould
What Came After Sam Winston	Tending The Fire Erin L. Snyder

Most of the books above were sent by Indie authors and ebooks continues to be a method for authors to at least try and get their work out there.

Summary:
I am happy enough with the number of ebooks I have read over the year. To be honest I suspect I have read more books this year than in any other year of my life and this challenge helped drive me towards achieving that.

The Harvest - Scott Nicholson

Title: The Harvest
Author: Scott Nicholson
Genre: Science Fiction / Horror
Published: 2003
Formats: Paperback/Ebook

Available at:
Amazon
Smashwords
Kobo
Amazon UK

“The Harvest” by Scott Nicholson is a rather enjoyable science-fiction/horror novel that will remind readers of various classic B-movie plot lines and concepts. The story itself is about an alien entity that lands in the Appalachian mountings in the United States and starts to “infect” every life form it encounters including the inhabitants of a small mountain town. These infected people become zombie like and try to find more victims to help progress the alien’s ultimate aim which is to absorb the life force from every living creature on Earth.

The novel is a fun ride as long as you are willing to accept cliché plot points and aren't looking for anything that original. However, whilst not being that original, Nicholson really does capture the feeling of classic movies like “The Blob” & “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and I actually quite enjoyed the corny bits that appeared throughout the novel. In addition the pace seemed just right with Nicholson using the early, slower parts of the novel to introduce the various characters to the reader before picking up the tension and danger as the story progressed to its conclusion.

There are problems however as at times it seemed like Nicholson was trying to do a character driven piece rather than the B-movie styled novel he was actually producing. For example, large sections of the book seem dedicated to various characters’ religious beliefs which really was a turn off for me as it just slowed the pace down for no real reason.

In regards to the characters themselves, Nicholson has tried hard to make all of them seem credible with different layers being present in all of them although I have to admit that a lot of did strike me as being in the stereotypical hillbilly/redneck mould. The real problem however is that he has introduced so many characters that I found myself struggling to engage with any of them. I just wish that he had maybe only included half the characters and developed them much more which may have meant that I actually felt something when one of them got infected.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel for what it was; a fun read that brings the same feeling of enjoyment I get from sitting down and watching an old 1950’s science fiction horror movie. It isn’t anything original, but it is well written and I think it will appeal to fans of the science fiction horror genre that are looking for something that won’t tax the brain but should entertain none the less.

Challenges Book Counts Towards:
Ebook Reading Challenge (Workaday Reads)
Speculative Fiction Challenge

Challenge Complete - 2012 Free Reads Challenge

Objective:
To finally get around to reading some of the various books I have won, picked up on Project Gutenberg or been asked to review. Check out my pre challenge post here!

Aim:
Bargain = 30 Books

Result:
I finally managed to complete this challenge in December so only made it! To be honest whilst I have managed to reduce the books I have received for free I have probably managed to be sent even more!

I've read-

Hide & Seek Thomas Kaplan-maxfield	Port of Errors Steve V Cypert
Gamers Thomas K. Carpenter	Containment Christian Cantrell
This Dark Magic Chryse Wymer	Fezariu's Epiphany David M. Brown
On Dark Shores: The Lady J.A. Clement	The Eyes of the Dead G.R. Yeates
The Last Man of Earth Club Paul R. Hardy	Runing Wide Open Lisa Nowak
Shadowing: A Henchman's Tale Kat Zantow	Known Afterlife Trey Copeland
Fires of  Alexandria Thomas K. Carpenter	Terminal Departure: A Cleo Matts Novel Joe Crubaugh
Foundation for the Lost Scott Rhine	Beloved of the Fallen Savannah Kline
Mirror Shards: Volume One Edited by Thomas K. Carpenter	Discontents James Birch Wallace
Saving JFK W. Green	War of the Witch Angel Haze
The God Virus J.E. Murphy	Peter Pan J.M. Barrie
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz L. Frank Baum	Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll
Scavengers Cynthia Echterling	Future Destinies Chris Turner
Gabriel's Redemption Steve Umstead	Gabriel's Return Steve Umstead
The Great Yellow Doom Bird Jon A. Hunt	Tribes Carmen Webster Buxton

There is quite a range of genres included above and I have realised that I re-named my blog well!

Summary:
I am more than happy that I managed to get through some books but still feel disappointed that I may have more than I started with. I really need to stop taking part in competitions and responding to every book review request I get!

Future Destinies - Chris Turner

Title: Future Destinies
Author: Chris Turner
Genre: Science Fiction
Published: 2011
Formats: Paperback/Ebook

Available at:
Amazon
Smashwords
Kobo
Amazon UK

“Future Destinies” is a collection of short stories written by Chris Turner that are best described as being set in the science fiction genre with the odd touch of fantasy. Most readers of this blog will know that I am a huge fan of Science Fiction in all its forms so I sat down to read this collection with high hopes.

Unfortunately I must admit that I found many of the stories to be quite average and at times it was far too easy for me to put my kindle down and do something else. To be honest, I am actually finding it hard to pinpoint what my issue really was as the worlds and characters created by Turner were all interesting enough. I just didn’t really engage with the characters and sometimes the narrative seemed to get lost elaborating technological details so that any real interest I had in the plotline would die out. I actually quite enjoy hard science fiction but I am just not sure it works in the short form when you are trying to create something that is both quick and entertaining to read.

It wasn’t all middle of the road however as there was one story in the collection that I did find particularly good that was entitled “Phane”. This story follows a teenager that lives on a community of humans on future world that has forgotten how to utilise technology and now tries to destroy any which may remain. Turner manages descending into any technological speak here and gives the reader a story that both entertains, engages and offers up the promise a new universe that could be explored further in any future writings. I actually think that it is possibly worth picking up the collection for this story alone.

In summary, I wouldn’t say the collection is specifically bad or good and if you enjoy Science Fiction then it is likely you will find something in here you will enjoy. It is possible that my review is a little bit more negative sounding than it ought to be as there were plenty of stories in the collection that I found enjoyable in parts, I just think “Phane” was the only one that had me really hooked and entertained.

Challenges Book Counts Towards:
Ebook Reading Challenge (Workaday Reads)
Free Reads Challenge
Speculative Fiction Challenge

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Alice Book 1) - Lewis Carroll

Title: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Alice Book 1)
Author: Lewis Carroll
Genre: Fantasy
Published: 1865
Formats: Hardback/Paperback/Ebook

Available at:
Project Gutenberg (Free Ebook)
Amazon
The Book Depository
Kobo
Amazon UK

“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll is another one of those classic novels that I have managed to avoid reading. To be honest, I am not a big fan of the various movies either as I found them all to be a little bit random for my liking so I wasn’t sure how much I would actually enjoy reading this. However, as the ebook was free on Project Gutenberg I decided to finally take the plunge and give it a try.

For anyone living under a rock who doesn’t know the story, it follows a young girl named Alice who follows a rabbit down a rabbit hole into a fantastical and magical world. Whilst undertakes a mad cap adventure in which she encounters talking animals, potions that change her size and a royal court made up of playing cards.

If the plot above sounds rather silly and nonsensical then this would be because it is. There really is no distinct plot and the characters are quite weakly developed. I suspect children may enjoy the various random leaps from one crazy event to the next as it would stop them getting bored. However, as an adult it meant I found it hard to get engrossed or feel something for the characters, especially when you consider the rather cheap method Carroll uses to end the story. None of this was helped by the fact that I also didn’t like Alice as a character; she irritated me with her obnoxious tendencies and bouts of temper tantrums. For a young child like Alice this type of attitude can be par for the course but it really didn’t endear her to me at all.

I did still find the book quite enjoyable however as some of the various events Alice encountered on her journey were imaginative, colourful and at times rather amusing. In addition Carroll does a great job in portraying the entire adventure from Alice’s viewpoint even if she as a character annoyed me. The way in which she reacts and tries to rationalise what she is seeing against the black and white way she has been taught does come across as something a child would do. Then of course we also get to see Alice’s mind wander off in various tangents which reminds me of how my own young daughter can sometimes act.

Overall, I did enjoy finally reading this classic and for all the randomness and strange events, I managed to understand and follow it a lot easier than some of the movies. At times the book is varied and fun but it is let down by the weak and at times rather cruel characters in addition to a disappointing plot and finale. Personally, I will probably give “Through the Looking Glass” a read in the future just to see if Carroll can create something that captures both his imagination alongside an entertaining story.

Challenges Book Counts Towards:
Ebook Reading Challenge (Workaday Reads)
Free Reads Challenge
Speculative Fiction Challenge
Year of the Fantasy Classic Challenge