Book Review: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series I - IV

By silentquill


Author: Michael Scott

While current fantasy stories are filled with the images of romance between vampires and humans, wizards, and other boring fairy tale, The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series offer something a little bit different.

Up till now there are four books in the series: the Alchemyst, the Magician, the Sorcere, and the Necromancer.

All of the characters, except from the twins, are taken from a mixed of well known legends (such as the legendary Nicholas Flamel himself), gods and creatures (sphinx, bast), and historical figures (the great Niccolo Machiavelli and Dr John Dee).

The story starts one day when a Sophie was working in a coffee shop when a magician (later introduced as Dr John Dee) attacked the bookshop owned by Nicholas Flamel where Josh, her brother, works. Apparently, the magician was after the great Codex, written by Abraham the Mage. I

n the fight, Josh managed to rip out the last two pages while Dee got away with the rest and kidnapped the store's wife - Paranelle Flamel. Later on, Nicholas took Sophie and Josh, whom he beleives to be the legendary twin of gold and silver and had their powers awakened. He explained that there the world used to be governed by the elders whome humani (humans) worshipped as gods. Some of the elders called the dark elders wishes to come back and rule earth once again. To do so, they have helped fro
m various humans whom they made immortals such as Dr John Dee.

The Codex which was stolen enables Dr Dee to summon the elders back to earth. However, the summoning spell is located in the last two pages Josh ripped. In addition, the Codex stores the anti aging speel that makes the Flamels immortal.



In the journey, they are accompanied by Scatnach the Shadow and met incredible gods a
nd legends such as Hekate, Mars, Witch and Endor, etc. They also counter various elders and their humani helpers (Dr Dee, Machiavelli, Billy the Kid).

The overall story is quite common. I felt rather
bored reading the first book. I am especially bored how Josh, Sophie, and Nicholas interact with one another. There is nothing special about their character. However, new characters introduced later on makes the story interesting. I like Paranelle Flamel. She is witty. When she is imprisoned in the Alcratraz, she never loose her calm and always find a way out. She outsmart Machiavelli not by using her magic but by doing a simpler thing - stealing his boat and leave him trapped on the island.
I also like how Machiavelli interacts with Dee and Billy the Kid. Machiavelli the strategist resents Dee the harsh magician. And they can quarrel over the tiniest things like how poor Machiavelli driving is. Billy the Kid is such a laid back person that Machiavelli becomes so confused by him.

I like how the story develop. How one party eventually betray another. I do find some of the characters disturbing (why is William Shakepeare doing magic?). Since the only original characters are the twins, sometimes I feel there is lack of originality and creativity. I also find that the legends are so mixed up (what is Mars - god of the greek doing with Osiris - egyptian god?). But overall, since the story is packed with non stop action and events rapidly unreveal, I think such minor deficiency is forgivable.

I also like the story since it does not offer the usual romance. Usually there is teenange and "gooey" romance between the main characters. Well, in this series romance are seldom but strongly depicted. There are romantic moments where Nicholas misses his wife who are trapped in the Alcatraz. How Nicholas and Paranelle do not wish to live forever without one another, how Machiavelli long for his deceased wife, how Saint Germain went back through time to find Joan, his wife depict romance as loving somebody for so much that the two souls can be together for centuries. Living with somebody one loves is better than being immortally alone. And all of the romantic stuff is described in one sentence or two... per half a book. So, like I said before, this book is rather different than the rest of fantasy novels.


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Anime Review: Black Lagoon

By silentquill



There is always a standard mainstream in the whole movie/anime/books stories: good people - involving great looking men with great looking ladies as side kick (at the most) - working to do some good.
Well, I am happy to announce that this anime series break all the above mentioned standard!

Black Lagoon is the name of the boat owned by the group of outlaws called the Lagoon Company. The company has its base in the city of Roanapur. The group is hired for pretty  much anything: smuggling, delivering goods, translating for major criminals, etc. In doing their job, the members of the Lagoon Company is often face to face with hand to hand combat, battles - at sea and on land, racing, and other deadly situations.

The story begins when the Lagoon Company met (or accidentally taken hostage of ) Rock - a Japanese businessman. Instead of killing him, the company offered him a place since he turns out to be a great negotiator and translator.

Rock - unlike any hero in other stories - does not shoot a gun ( he won't even hold one), cannot punch, drive a boat, let alone do a hand to hand combat. So what does he do ? Well, like mentioned earlier, Rock becomes the group's negotiator and translator. He handles the accounting and save them if gunshooting turns futile.
Ok.. good for Rock... So what does the other do? Well, Dutch - a big dark skinned guy - is the owner of the company and he drives the boat. Benny is the mechanic and engineer.
Still.. ok.. so who does the hand to hand combat? Some bigger guy???


Well..... NO... the skillful gunman is a woman. And unlike in other stories where the gun holding woman is depicted boyish but with still possess a woman's natural beauty, Revy (the name of our gunman) does not. She wears shorts, T shirts, and pig tail. She likes to shoot. She enjoys the blood. She enjoys her work. She holds no value for human life. She killed her first victim when she was young. And she is never depcited graceful or having great natural womanly beatuy. She is simply deadly and great at what she does. She is nicknamed "Two Hand" since she is able to use her weapons on both hands simultaneously.

 
The Lagoon company is in close ties with the Hotel Moscow - a group of army turned fugitive led by a dangerous woman named Balalaika. Her subordinates calles her Kapitan since she used to be their captain when they were still in the army. She is the brain of the group.  She is also a great sniper. Half of her face is burnt in the war. She is well respected by her followers, relations, and enemies. She will destroy anything that disturbs her goal or her follower.

Eda, is a "nun" in the church of violence. She is a great gunman, quite a match for Revy. She sometime serves as Revy's partner and sometime crosses path with her.

One of the greatest guest character is Roberta. She is the servant of a boy who got accidentally end up with the Lagoon Company. Upon releasing him, she was involved in hand to hand combat with Revy. The scene when she and Revy was in combat is the best action scene in any movies I've watched. It is just so great watching two women battling each other using guns and fists (and being extremely great at it) instead of pulling out each other hair as usually depicted in women fighting scenes.
 
Overall, I really like this anime since it really actually shows strong women with level head, great minds, great battling skills, power, and muscle. They don't cry. They don't go overboard with their feelings. They don't have the "my prince charming will come and rescue me" syndrome. They act on their own strength. They rule their own lives. Yes, some of them is broken. Revy had such a difficult past that she became a gunman. But she didn't become enslaved by her destiny and she does not cry over the fact of what she has become. She face her life no matter how brutal and live with the terms.

In addition to the characters, I also like the story. The full anime series is divided into several different stories. The Lagoon Company and its allies deal with different issues. Each is filled with fast paced action. And in most cases, there is no good guy nor bad guy. There are just different sides, taking oppsite actions.

The best that I like aside from the ones involving Roberta is the series where members of the Hotel Moscow were being slain by a pair of twin children. The twins were mentally sick children. In their world, killing is justified and they do it as a hobby. However, in the series it was obvious that they were the victims. When the girl finally opened up to Rock and almost get away, she was eventually killed by one of Balalaika's contacts. So, there is no happy ending. Well, not in this anime, anyway.

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Book Review: Tuesdays with Morrie

By silentquill

Author: Mitch Albom

Ever wonder what it would be like to be dying? Not just dying, but dying in a very painful way. Being slowly eaten by the disease which makes you unable to move and in the end unable to breathe.
This is what happened to Morrie Schwartz, a professor of Sociology at Brandeis University. He was suffering from a lethal form of ALS. However, instead of screaming and bitching about his future, he looked at it in an entirely different way. He accepted it and learns from it. He called for his friends and colleagues. One of whom is the author of the book - Mitch Albom.

Around that time, Mitch was an extremely busy journalist. He used time very effectively and he can multitask several things together. He sees success as series of achievements and belongings: a great job, a great, a great house, etc.

The two of them get together every tuesdays to write the book about life according to the dying person.

Based on a true story, this is one of the most inspiring books. Albom wrote in a straight forward way. It is simple to understand what Morrie is trying to say. We understand how Morrie put positive influence on Albom. How the latter appreciates his wife and smaller things that are usually taken for granted better. The events are also told in great details without which this book would simply tell a typical "live your good life" kind of things. I like how Albom describes how Morrie had to be helped to go to the bath room, to eat, even to sit up straight. Those are exactly the small things we take for granted. I like how Albom can make the reader relates to Morrie's physical condition and illness. It makes one realize that one will end up more or less like Morrie. The difference is, with whom one shall face death. In this case, Morrie is a lucky person since he was surrounding by the people who love him.

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Book review: Artemis Fowl Series

By silentquill


Author: Eoin Colfer

Overall synopsys
The story revolves around a boy criminal mastermind and his adventures with his fairy friends. The plot is usually action packed with unusual surprises. The readers will also wondering what is Artemis’ plans and what is the result. In addition, the most attractive part of the novel is the unusual characteristics of the protagonists (if you can call a criminal mastermind a hero) and their relationship to each other (which usually revolves around sending each other sarcastic comments). There are a lot of dry humor in parts of the book which will surely make the reader laugh. And the idea of having a human with no magic as the main hero of a fairy story is appealing. It also helps that the fairies depict here are not supernatural fairies with unlimited abilities but fairies with a little magic who are dependent on highly advanced technology.

Main Characters

Artemis Fowl II: Criminal boy (around 12 years old in the first book) mastermind with access to unlimited funds to help his illegal deeds. Feels no guilt whatsoever in performing thievery and other indecent acts where he can earn profits. This is not so surprising since his father is one of the world’s best criminals. He speaks and act like an adult which makes adults uneasy and is dressed in formal suits. He is very self confident in his plans. His ability to create plans in urgent situations proves useful for the survival of himself and his group. However, he is highly dependent on Butler for physical protection.

Butler: Artemis Fowl’s gigantic butler. His strength is so impressive that the fairies consider him a respectful enemy. He is extremely calm in handling death and life situations. He is apt in handling various weapons and self defense art. He is willing to sacrifice himself for Artemis. He follows Artemis orders without question even though he’s not sure of the plan. He is the only person brave enough who gives Artemis genuine advice. Artemis sometimes refers him as “old friend”.

Holly: A Leprechaun and first female Captain of the Lower Elements Police (the police of the fairy world). She is the best LEP pilot and does not necessarily following rules and orders to get the job done (a method that proves to save her life one too many times).


Mulch Diggums: A thief dwarf with a lot of special abilities that proves useful in urgent situations. He steals from humans and fairies alike. He has been chased by Commander Root for several centuries. He serves as a wild card in defeating the enemies since they usually are not aware of his existence.

Foaly: A centaur tech genius that provides the fairy police with most up to date high tech support (including wings, guns, shields, etc). He is sarcastic by nature and likes to pick up quarrel with Commander Root by referring him by his first name. He is super confident in his abilities in technology and highly respects (and irritated by) Artemis who manages to hack into his systems one too many times.
Commander Julius Root: Commander of the LEP and is Holly’s superior. He is sometimes miserable by the fact that he spends most of his time getting bullied by Foaly, has to work with the criminal he’s chased so many times (Mulch), and has to ask a human (Artemis) for help. However, he is a very good and wise commander.

                                                     
            Artemis Fowl Book I



            Artemis Fowl, the criminal mastermind is planning to kidnap a fairy for gold ransom. He manages to obtain a copy of the fairy’s bible from which he manages to know their weaknesses. Butler and his sister, Juliet, is helping Artemis. The unfortunate fairy he kidnaps is Holly. Together, Commander Root and Foaly tries to free Holly from the Fowl Manor where she is held captive. In order to break into the house, the Commander request the help of Mulch Diggums.
            The story is hilarious, action packed, and full of surprises. Sometimes Artemis’ plan is going according to plan and sometimes he gets defeated. The most highly expected part is to figure out how Artemis escape the time prison while being invaded by the fairy’s version of atom bomb. All of the characters has an equal share in their roles and the relationship between the characters are filled with witty conversations, sarcasm, and intellect.

                    Artemis Fowl Book II: The Arctic Incident

                    Artemis father is being held captive by the mafiya. In order to save him, Artemis offers his help to the fairies who are currently troubled by the goblin uprising. Therefore Butler, Artemis, Holly, and Commander Root go to Russia to save Artemis’s father. They are not aware that the goblin uprising is a cover plot made by Cudgeon and Opal Koboi (the other tech genius LEP hires aside from Foaly) to kill Root and his team and to take over the LEP and let Foaly take all the blame. In the middle of their journey, Artemis and his friends were ambushed by the goblin while Foaly is trapped in his own operation room without any means of communication.
                    In this story, Artemis is forced to do a lot of physical activities (e.g. catching up a train in the snow). Aside from his final plan to save his dad from a location surrounded by the mafiya and some basic plan to defeat the enemy, he does not really show talent of being a criminal mastermind which is a bit of a disappointment. However, lack of Artemis’ involvement is covered by an action packed story filled with suspense.

                      Artemis Fowl Book III: The Eternity Code

                      Artemis – being the criminal that he is – tries to sell a latest technology invention (the C cube), which he created using his knowledge of the fairy technology, to a gangster. Unfortunately, his plan failed and the cube ended being stolen by the gangster and Butler ended up extremely wounded. Therefore, he requests the help of the fairy and Butler’s sister to clean up his mess. Mulch Diggums who were working with the gangster stumbled into the whole plot.
                      The story is revolves around the completion of Artemis’ master plan in re-stealing the cube. So for those who would like to see Artemis genius side, this book is highly recommended. In addition, the story reveals Artemis’ affection for Butler which is probably the only genuine feeling Artemis ever had.






                        Artemis Fowls Book IV: The Opal Deception

                      Opal Koboi is back and she is trying to get a revenge to Artemis and all the people who ruined her plan. She made Holly a fugitive and tries to kill Artemis and Butler. Unfortunately Artemis has lost his memory during the mind wipe (read the Eternity code). Therefore he lacks the ability to create a genius plan to save both of them from their grave situation. Meanwhile, Mulch manages to find Butler and restore his memory. Together, they save Holly and Artemis. After gaining his memory, Artemis formulated a plan to ruin Opal’s plan to collide the human world and the fairy world.
                      There is a good part in the beginning of the story where Artemis robs a bank. Reading Artemis performing crimes which has nothing to do with fairy issues is exciting. It’s like mission impossible performed by a teenager. However, it’s not fun reading hopeless Artemis being chased around by trolls and being dragged around by Holly for over half of the book. In addition, Foaly’s role in this book is extremely minimal and he is not as sarcastic as he used to be since he is assigned to capture Holly – a job he prefers not to do.

                        Artemis Fowl Book V: The Lost Colony

                          Artemis and all the fairies are officially buddies now. Artemis is researching the appearance of demons. He stumbles upon a beautiful genius girl called …… She is determined that her research will get her the noble prize. Meanwhile, an imp escaped into the human world and got captured by … Artemis tries to release him from his captives. The demon child turns out to be a demon warlock which supposed to be extinct and together they release an older demon warlock from his 10 years slumber to prevent the collision of hell to the human world.
                          Aside from new characters, this book tells nothing new. Artemis does not show that he is indeed a genius. The sarcastic comments between Foaly and Mulch is prolonged and boring. The little girl fails to become a threatening enemy to the group (the fact that in the middle of the story the girls bodyguard turns out to be the real enemy does not help either). Overall, the character’s strong points are not properly exposed and the plot is easily predicted. And in the end of the story, Artemis gains magic. This is a fatal point since what has always made the series interesting is the fact that Artemis is a human boy who is exceptional due to his capacity in creating foolproof plans without the help of magic. Doing so will eliminate the need of other characters – such as Holly.

                            Artemis Fowl Book VI: The Time Paradox

                            Artemis mother has got illness which is incurable by magic and science. His only hope is to capture a lemur. However, his ten year old self had made the lemur extinct. Therefore, Artemis travelled through time with Holly in order to defeat his old self and prevent the catastrophe.
                            The story simply revolves around Artemis and Holly. Due to the time distortion, Artemis is made older and Holly younger. Artemis has changes so much into a teenager with conscience and perhaps even a crush on Holly. And Holly transforms into a childlike version of herself. Other characters such as Foaly and Butler have almost no part. Mulch appearance to help Artemis and Holly is extremely forced. The best character in the book is the villain – Artemis aged 10. This book is a great disappointment for those who like the first book since all of the characters are pretty much not themselves anymore.




                            Artemis Fowl Book VII: Atlantis Complex


                            Artemis has become a good citizen of the human race. He intends to stop the melting of the Arctic. Therefore, he invites his fairy friends: Holly, Foaly, and Commander Vinyáya to discuss his plans. In the middle of the discussion, they were attack by robots who were made by Foaly and were supposed to go to Mars for material collection. In short, Foaly's program was again hijacked by an unknown person. Matter got worse when it is discovered that  Artemis was suffering from a disease called the Atlantis Complex. He was so severely infected that he developed a second personality called Orion. Unlike Artemis, Orion is somewhat stupid, poetic, and bothers everyone with his comments. All this happens while Butler is not by Artemis' side. Due to his paranoism, Artemis sent him a false message stating that his sister Juliet was in trouble.div>

                            After further investiagtion, the crimes are coreographed by Turnball Root - Commander Julius Root's brother. He is being detained in Atlantis and needed to get away since his human wife is dying.

                            This new addition to the Artemis Fowl series is a huge disappointment. First, because the criminal mastermind is not a criminal anymore. Second, because in half the book Artemis is not preset. He is being replaced by Orion whose actions and words are dismissable. Third, the villain is a romantic person who longs for his wife. Real villains like Opal Koboi is so much missed here. Fourth, there is no chemistry whatsoever among the characters. Foaly does not seem that smart. Mulch and Butler become insignficant entities. Holly's ability as captain is not much shown. Artemis does not sound like a genius. Last, there is almost no notable action scense. I skipped through so many pages due to boredom.
                            I really wish the next Artemis Fowl book is better.

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