IT

So, I've been trying to catch up on good ol' Stephen King's work, which is no small feat. His seemingly endless numbers of tomes assault my eyes and my imagination. But until now, I haven't read one of the modern master's greatest achievements: what is perhaps the longest horror novel ever written. I am speaking, of course, about IT, the book which has inspired a chilling fear of clowns in millions of Constant Readers.

So, to quote another famous frightening clown, here... we... GO!

IT is a book of immense scope and simultaneously a book of intimately personal character studies. I have rarely if ever read a novel with characters so well-developed, and each one sticks out in my mind, long after I have read the final page.

I can tell you all about Stanley Uris, who had perhaps the greatest grasp of all of what he and his childhood friends were fighting.

I can give you a wealth of information about Mike Hanlon, the only one who was willing to stay in his hometown haunt of Derry, if only to give the signal to his comrades to return.

I can get off a good one about Richie Tozier, whose myriad of voices could keep a terror at bay, but who is struggling to find his own.

I can delve into the childhood of Beverly Rogan, who traded one set of demons for another, but whose love may be the key to saving them all.

I can spin many a tale about Eddie Hapsbrack, whose hypochondriac mother's influence lingers decades after leaving the house.

I can talk about the transformations gone through by Ben Hanscom, who has built both spectacular skyscrapers and an inpenetrable wall of will.

And I can explain the workings of the mind of Bill Denbrough, a writer and leader, whose stutter cannot mask a strength of character within that no force of darkness can easily overcome.

This review wasn't meant to be long; in fact, it seems as if the lengths of my reviews are inversely proportional to the lengths of the books which they are about. But that's okay. IT has been around for twenty-five years, and on this auspicious anniversary, I can say wholeheartedly that it still holds up, and that it is perhaps the best of its kind. This book gave me chills repeatedly, but not by cheap methods. Stephen King is a master storyteller because he earns the scares, because the terror comes from within the darkest places in our consciousness. You can feel the characters, and because of this, you can feel all the fear that King has intended. IT is a book written with great intentions, pulled off by the sheer tour-de-force that is Stephen King's writing. A masterpiece.

My rating: 10/10

Coming Soon: A Lord of the Rings film retrospective.

This Is Why I Love Fantasy.

This and this.

Until next time,
The Writer

Frenzy

Okay, I've stalled doing reviews for a while now. Over a week, in fact. But it's time I reviewed a very solid book, a very solid YA fantasy, and the finale of Robert Liparulo's excellent Dreamhouse Kings series. This one's called Frenzy, and it earns its title easily.

Honestly, I don't know how to explain this one. Anything I say will be loaded with spoilers from previous books. If you've read them, you know where the Kings are when this book begins, and if you haven't, then it would take too long to explain anyway. So I'm just going to say that it's everything you've come to expect in terms of suspense and more besides. It's got more action than any other book in the series, and things are closed off well while leaving the world open for readers' imaginations to ponder the future.

If you haven't heard of Dreamhouse Kings, then I'll try to sum it up for you. Take LOST, except make everybody a family, change the island to a house, change the smoke monster to... actually, that's a spoiler, and throw in some Back to the Future-esque, headache-enducing time travel conundrums, and you've at least got some idea of what's going on. The six-book series is really just a really long serial novel, as one book flows into the next seamlessly and without any sort of time gap.

Now, for people who know the series, Frenzy is clearly chock-full of stuff Liparulo has been dying to write, stuff that could only be achieved in the Dreamhouse Kings universe. The six-book length has given him the ability to explore a myriad of possibilities, and one in particular is quite hard-hitting, especially for a YA book. This is a fantastic effort from the author, and it makes me happy to see a series written quickly, economically (even with six books), and yet thoughtfully as well.

Dreamhouse Kings is a series that parents can read with their children without worrying, and one that will make the children eager to read more. It should inspire conversations, many of which will be about time travel and circular in nature, but it should also make one think about the courage displayed in the face of truly frightening and overwhelming circumstances. All in all, I'm pleased with Robert Liparulo for telling an interesting and complex story in an accessible, fun way.

My rating: 9.5/10

Coming Soon: IT

The 13th Reality-- The Blade of Shattered Hope

James Dashner is awesome. There, I said it up front. He just is, and there's no getting past it. He simply doesn't have it in him to write a bad book, and he is one of the brightest new faces on the YA scene. His 13th Reality books have always been top-notch, with the second volume, The Hunt for Dark Infinity, being one of the better books I read last year. I approached Book 3, The Blade of Shattered Hope, with extreme trepidation. Is there any way in which Book 2 could be topped? Such a feat seems impossible.

Don't worry. The 13th Reality-- The Blade of Shattered Hope is good. Very good.

Atticus Higginbottom, he of both unfortunate name and extraordinary circumstances, has been shaken by recent events. The discovery of his true powers has left him with a need to refine, to prepare. Because it's not over yet. Not even close.

Mistress Jane is back, sporting a new look for her face that really shines (pun intended), and she means business. You know, like she didn't before. Her plan involves the kidnapping of Tick's parents and something more sinister than anything I would have expected from Book 3 in a five book series. Tick is going to need to use all the resources available to him to save the world-- not one of them, but all of them.

It's epic time.

I'm surprised at this new wave of YA fantasy, perhaps the most aggressive since the onslaught of Harry Potter. This is the age of Erec Rex and The 13th Reality, where the authors aren't afraid to throw in some huge revelations fairly early on in the series. I for one think this is a great approach, as it allows for some really interesting character-building moments due to the fallout of these earth-shattering events. And there was some huge stuff that happened in Book 2.

The Blade of Shattered Hope felt almost a little too packed for me, if that's possible. In many ways, this could have been the sort of climax reserved for the last book in the series. I mean, there's an army, and I can't honestly see how the stakes could be any higher (I expect to find out in the as-yet-untitled Book 4). The opening action feels just the slightest bit forced, and the book could have been allowed to breathe just fine without it.

That said, the opening is short, and I was pleased as punch at the events that unfolded in the remaining 400 pages. There's action, suspense, and some nice character development. I was especially thrilled with what Dashner did for the character of Sato. In this one volume, as he did everything else, he turned one of my least favorite characters into one of the strongest and most compelling. It takes talent for that.

The ending is one of those I-can't-wait-until-next-year-why-can't-Dashner-just-write-twice-as-fast kinds, with some fantastic and explosive setup for Book 4. I honestly am not sure where Dashner is going, and I eagerly anticipate the last volumes. Good work yet again.

My rating: 9.5/10

Coming Soon: Frenzy and more.

Classic of the Month: The Great Gatsby

Well, folks, since we're about to run out of month (again), it's time for another Classic of the Month! This month, we go back a bit farther than we've gone before, although not really far back. This month, the classic is one of those books that everyone has to read, even though they're not exactly sure why. It's a very different book from the usual fare over here at The Writer's Notebook, so here goes: The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The story is simple, and if you've ever been to high school, you know it by heart. That's because there's not much to know. It's a small book, in case you've forgotten, or if terror of your junior year of English has inflated your memory of it to 600 pages or so. Gatsby follows Nick, self-proclaimed discerning narrator, as he spends some time on West Egg. His neighbor, Jay Gatsby, is shrouded in mystery. How did he get all that money? What exactly does he do? As Nick gets to know Gatsby better, he becomes entangled in two things: one being Jordan, with whom he develops a lackluster relationship; the other being a love triangle between Gatsby, Tom, and his cousin, Daisy.

The story is chock-full of symbolism-- not as much as, say, The Scarlet Letter (oh yes, we'll be reviewing that one someday), but enough to weigh the story down significantly. Everyone remembers the repetition of the green light at the end of Daisy's pier and the eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleberg with the sickening clarity of one who has been in the WWI trenches. English professors spend as much time analyzing Gatsby as Atlas Shrugged, and they expect every student to approach Fitzgerald's greatest work with the same pseudo-religious fervor.

I'm going to step away from that and just talk about the book. Not the symbolism. The book. So is it good, really? Well, yes and no. In the first third of the book, virtually nothing of any real significance happens. Fitzgerald spends so much time writing about Gatsby's parties that by the end of it the reader feels as drunk as Nick gets on rare occasion. It's just excessive prose, going beyond setup and elaborate background and entering the territory of wasted space.

But then, slowly but surely, things do start to happen. You almost become involved in the characters, before you remember that Fitzgerald portrays them in such a way as to make them thoroughly unsympathetic. And Chapters 7 and 8 have absurd amounts of major events occuring withing their pages, out of proportion with the rest of the novel. No less than three characters die in the space of two chapters. The book achieves a melancholy emotion at the end, which is obviously what Fitzgerald wanted in the first place.

Looking at it now, I think The Great Gatsby is not a bad book. I don't hate it in the same way as those in the trenches do. But I'm not entirely convinced of its need to be read by everybody, and therefore it's need to become a classic. I hate to break it to you, high school English teachers, but there are better books out there. This one's only for if the 1920's are being really emphasized.

My rating: 7/10

Coming Soon: The 13th Reality-- The Blade of Shattered Hope, Frenzy, and much more.

Prince of Persia and Toy Story 3

I just realized my last post was this blog's 200th. That's a lot of words, and a lot of time. And yet, here I go again. When will I ever learn?

In all seriousness, it's time for some quick movie reviews!

First up is Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Already, it's being viewed as a major box office disappointment. And that's a shame. Because it's a lot of fun to watch, in its own special way. Jake Gyllenhaal makes a serviceable action hero, the effects are spiffy, and the action setpieces are top-notch. Plus, it's got Alfred Molina, who's got a nice track record. I mean, he's been in Spider-Man 2 and Raiders of the Lost Ark!

It's not terribly mental entertainment, but there's something to be said for lighthearted fun. My recommendation: Once you've seen Toy Story 3, give this one a shot. It's your required popcorn movie of 2010.

My rating: 7.5/10

I'm also here to talk to you about the best movie of the year so far, and in the running to be the best overall. It's an animated movie. About toys. And it's a threequel. Aren't you excited yet? Well, all that stuff aside, you should be. Because this is Pixar we're talking about here. And this isn't just any threequel. It's Toy Story 3. It's a wonderful film, well-made in every way.

But I don't want to talk about it much. To talk about it would spoil its greatness. Let me just say that it's a great finale to what is one of the best trilogies ever made, a phenomenal send-off worthy of its predecessors. Seriously, if the word "Pixar" wasn't enough for you, then you really need to go to the movies more.

My rating: 10/10

Coming Soon: The 13th Reality-- The Blade of Shattered Hope.

FEED

It's time for another debut! This one's sorta cheating on my part because it's really a pseudo-debut. It's the first Mira Grant novel, but the author also writes under another name. But either way, it's really good.

In 2014, we had cured cancer, and the common cold was no issue for us. But in our great triumph over disease, we unwittingly created another one: the Kells-Amberlee virus. The KA virus is chillingly simple. Once infected, the mind is controlled by the virus and given just one command: FEED.

That's right. We've got zombies on our hands.

Twenty-six years later, the world is a different place. Cities are deemed unsafe, security protocols determine how and where people live, and blogs are seen as truer than official news. Two of these bloggers, twins Shaun and Georgia Mason, are going to look into events deeper than ever before. It's time for the 2040 presidential election, and they're getting to cover it. Beneath a series of seemingly tragic accidents, they will unearth a conspiracy that will endanger all they hold dear. No, really. I say this all the time, but it's true.

FEED is enormosly fun to read. When you take zombies away from the horror of the initial outbreak, you get a fantastic worldbuilding tool, which Mira Grant uses to great effect. It's fascinating to look at the ways society has evolved as a result of zombie presence in the world, and it's actually handled fairly plausibly. I was pleasantly surprised, to say the least.

This is not a horror novel. It's a taut political thriller. With zombies. I know, some of you just started groaning, but it's still really good stuff, and a breath of fresh air in the much-overused "undead rising" genre. The characters are nicely drawn, and the political movements are pretty believable. It makes sense once you understand how things work in Grant's world.

And for a zombie novel, this one's long. Clocking in at about 600 pages, FEED provides for good immersion into a zombified alternate reality. But I can't really think of anything I'd cut out. Despite its length, Grant uses words smartly, better than some novelists who have written five times as many books as her. I know it seems odd, gushing about a pseudo-debut right after gushing about someone else's debut, but I'm just having good luck in that department of late.

Grant provides a phenomenal introduction to a projected trilogy of Newsflesh novels (like her pun?). FEED is great reading, very fresh and promising for Grant's career. There are twists that I honestly didn't expect, but Grant never takes herself too seriously. At the end of the day, it's a book that's simply fun to read. I can't wait to devour the next novel (see what I did there?), BLACKOUT, when it comes out.

My rating: 9.5/10

Coming Soon: The 13th Reality-- The Blade of Shattered Hope.