:: darcysbooks ::

:: Tuesday, March 30, 2004 ::

harem: the world behind the veil
alev lytle croutier
:: darcy 7:14 PM [+] ::
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eragon
christopher paolini

If I criticise this award-winning best-seller, written by a child, I may be considered to be committing sacrilege, but this is a standard coming-of-age fantasy novel that's not really very original, interesting, or well-written. Maybe the target age group will find it more fascinating than I do...I just found it boring. The first in a trilogy about the dragonrider Eragon, this book fulfills all the cliches of the genre. Parents died when young, check. Misunderstood at home, check. Trained by a grandfatherly magician tutor, check. Fulfilling a special predestined role by becoming the first/last/strongest of a magically-gifted, heroic group of people, check. Destined to Fight the Forces of Ultimate Evil and Take Back the Realm, check. No Epic Love Story but it's set up for later...

artemis fowl: the eternity code
eoin colfer

I love these books, even if they are written for the ten-to-twelve-year-old set. They are so much fun! In this installment of the series about the boy criminal genius, Artemis oversteps his reach and falls afoul of another kingpin of crime. The price of his hubris is that the fairy technology he's cunningly stolen and modified could end up in the wrong hands. Can he and his reluctant fairy accomplices recapture the technology and keep both their world safe? Read on and find out!

the seraglio
janet wallach

How can anyone make the story of the cousin of Empress Josephine, who was kidnapped at sea and sold into the Turkish royal harem, boring? Well, unfortunately, Wallach can. This book is told from the point of view of Nakshidil's loyal eunuch companion, rather than that of the woman herself, and is written in a pedantic, boring style. Rather than concentrating on the protagonist's complex personality and intricate situation, we get generalized, unenlightening passages about day to day harem life with the occasional mention of how she is waiting for the sultan to call her, languishing and wishing he would call, happy because he does pay her some attention, etc. etc. etc. Not recommended.
:: darcy 4:26 PM [+] ::
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