Metal Reviews

Meh, the first one wasn't bad, but the later ones were dreadfully dull imo.

Oh, damn. I was hoping I'd learn something. We're studying Rome in history class and I'm supposed to write about the differences between Ancient Greece and Rome and I'm really not that into it.

I read many books contemporarily.

Sorry to dissapoint you, but ya, don't trust anything in those books (for example the entire plot, from book 1: Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Julius Caesar are adopted brothers? What the fuck?). Aside from the fact that he gets all the events and people completely wrong, Iggulden also just has absolutely no idea how Roman society works- something he could have remedied by reading, say, the Plutarch's 50 page long Life of Caesar. Hell, had he read anything...

Finished Pride and Prejudice, so...now I'm back to being partway through Dark Tower I. I bought the second graphic novel for Y: The Last Man today, but that shouldn't take long. Read a few Punisher Max graphic novels over the weekend. Frank Castle...sooo badasss. Hides a razorblade, in his wrist in order to cut loose from some ropes and the promptly start murdering people. It was pretty much the exact opposite of Pride and Prejudice, actually. Also, I have Frank Miller's Ronin on the way, so hopefully that'll be cool. The books I'd like to read are stacking up still, but I assume that I'll have to read things for school, so I might be sticking to comics for a little while.

Also, Watchmen movie on the way? Optimistic?

Do you like Spawn or The Darkness?

Do you know any comics that are in the same vein?

And yes, Frank Castle is a badass

I haven't actually sat down and read any Spawn or the Darkness comics, so I don't think I can help you out. I did watch a not very good movie about Spawn, but that's about it, really. Haha, I suck, I know.

The Spawn comic is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY superior to the movie, yeah the movie was not so good, but like i said the comic is MUCH better and quite epic as well ( i think so anyway). There is a part where Spawn fights an ancient demongod called Urizien which was so powerful and beyond Hell's control, that hell didn't want him since he was a destroyer of souls and not a harvester like Malebolgia's (Satan) other demon minions. And since he was so gigantic, it took both the chains of Heaven and Hell to confine and banish him. The hairs stood up on the back of my neck when i read that part.

finished A Feast for Crows last night. all in all a great book, it wasn't as good as Storm of Swords but it's still great. a bit too much Jaime/Cersei (not that i didn't like their parts) and not enough Arya, though. he said he wanted to show all the story for some of the characters, but there wasn't much for Arya it seems.

edit - oh yeah Brienne's parts weren't that good, except maybe for the last one. her story wasn't good to begin with, i don't know why she got her own story in the first place.

A FEAST FOR CROWS SPOILERS:

Arya's story is half in A Feast For Crows, half in A Dance For Dragons, since she's kind of halfway through the geographic areas and will interact with characters from both.

As for Brienne- while she did have one or two too many chapters, I thought that her storyline was integral to the thematic structure of the book, showing the perspective of the smallfolk of war (there is one particular striking passage that just might be the best thing Martin's ever written: Septon Maribald's monologue on war.

There's also quite a lot of subtle and hidden plot details in there that only became apparent for me upon re-read. And I think her storyline is going to become more exciting in future books. But I can see why you didn't like her chapters as much.

Plus Jaime is awesome. And Cersei's a paranoid motherfucker.

hmm, i guess that at least for now Brienne's contribution is more for the theme than to the plot.

Jaime and Cersei's chapters were really good, it's just that i really wanted to know more about braavos, valyria and all that.

Understandable... Thats why you have to wait like the rest of us bitches for A Dance With Dragons now. Hopefully by the end of this year...

what about those other two books, Hedge Knight and Sworn Sword (i think)? are they worth reading?

They're short stories (Hedge Knight is available in graphic novel form, Sworn sword has four of its six comic strips out)- you can find them in story version in the Legends I and II anthologies and in George RR Martin's recently released collection of short stories, Dreamsongs (though I don't think The Sworn Sword is in it). Anyway, they're excellent short stories, especially The Hedge Knight, which is probably my favourite short story of all time. They take place about 100 years before ASoIaF and followed Dunk, a Hedge Knight, who the careful reader will see mentioned in A Song of Ice and Fire, along with Egg, who is also mentioned and who is related to some of the main characters. Go for it.

hmmm, thanks Brahm. i'll look into those when i get to Nottingham.

my cousin returned from the UK, and got me American Gods. while i was at his place i borrowed "Monkey Business - Swinging Through the Wall Stret Jungle", which apparently is a bit like Liar's Poker, which was awesome. he worked as a trader in Chicago for a little over a year, and now he's a bit addicted to all these wall street books.

"It took out mothers six months to realize that we weren't stock brokers, working the phones to sell crappy public offerings to unsuspecting investors. It took us another six months to realize that we were, in fact, selling crappy public offerings to investors."

Finished Fifth Business, good book. Now I can get back to Lord of the Rings for a week or so until the next reading assignment for English

Finished Shadow Of The Wind, good. Started By The Light Of The Moon by Dean Koontz. I hate the right-wing crap he shovels in, otherwise not a bad writer at all...

What kind of right-wing crap?

Shoehorning Gawd into it, random mentions of ayatollahs and their big scary beards. I've noticed it in other books of his as well...

Beowulf wasn't too bad.

Voltaire as always made me laugh. I was reading a collection of his work but it basically is all summed up in Candide which is probably historically one of the greatest books ever.

Now reading Morte D'Arthur for class. Reading Naked Lunch for fun and I'm kind of struggling to understand what is going on in the first 18 pages.