Book Review: Darke – Book 6 of the Septimus Heap series

Caution: Spoilers ahead!

Having read the first five books of the series earnestly, it was for quite some time that I had been waiting for Darke to come out.

I wouldn’t say that the long wait was a wasted effort; though the book fell short of expectations. At least in my case.

To give a brief background of the storyline; the main protagonist of the story is Septimus Heap. The series follows the adventures of Septimus Heap who, as a seventh son of a seventh son, is supposed to, and partly does, have extraordinary magical powers. After he becomes an apprentice to the arch ("ExtraOrdinary") wizard of the series, Marcia Overstrand, he must study for seven years and a day until his apprenticeship ends. In the first book, he is known as Young Army Expendable Boy 412, until his great-aunt, Zelda Zanuba Heap reveals his true identity. His adventures are placed in the context of the warmth and strength of his family, and developed alongside those of Jenna, his adoptive sister, who is heir to the throne of the Castle, the community where they live. The novels, set in an elaborate fantastic world, describe the many challenges that Septimus and his friends must overcome. (Courtesy Wikipedia)

There are six books in the series: Magyk, Flyte, Physic, Queste, Syren and the latest Darke; in that order.

Now to the latest book.

In this volume, Merrin Meredith, apprentice to necromancer Domdaniel and now wearing his two faced ring has decided upon himself to setup a Darke Domaine in the castle and overcome even the Wizard Tower, with the help of his faithful THINGS. This Darke Domaine grows outward from the palace and is now threatening to overwhelm the entire city. Septimus is worried about his Darke Week where he must encounter the Darke and successfully avoid being lost in it. Unfortunately, the ghost of Ex-extraordinary Wizard, Alther Mella, has been banished Marcia Overstrand, the current Extraordinary Wizard, in a mistake and is not present to help. On the other hand is Princess Jenna in a tiff with the Port Witch coven. Beetle, on the other hand, involved in the entire charade in more than one ways: Having a crush on Jenna, past association with Manuscriptorium, association with Marcia etc.

Positives of the book:

1. The character of Beetle has been developed a lot with a good ending for him, for a change.
2. Since both Jenna and Septimus are coming of age, 14 years, in this volume; they both are coming to terms with the expectations that they have to fulfill – Jenna as the queen to be and Septimus as the possible candidate for Extraordinary wizard.

Negatives of the book:

1. While a lot of talk and impression were given as to Septimus having to go into Darke Halls to retrieve Alther, that bit went off fairly quickly and I felt that it could have been developed on at all. Especially since it seemed that visiting Darke Halls was all the more urgent for the removal of Darke Domaine.
2. More than usual detailing on Darke Domaine; at times felt it to be too lengthy and kept on going on and on.
3. At times Jenna and Septimus seemed a bit more childish. But I guess that can be explained as being a part of adolescence.
4. I was kind of looking forward to see more of Syrah and Jim Knee but they both were absent throughout.

A very surprising element was when Marcellus did something which I would have never expected him to do. That was a real nice bit.

Though, all in all a nice read and I will give it a 3.5 out of 5 rating.

Would you prefer an ebook to paper book?

Got this very interesting article in today's paper. Since I love reading a lot, I could not help but share this article. The original can be found here (among many other places I am sure).

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There are very few battles in the technology space that actually make sense. The Plasma vs. LCD display was a good one till it lasted; the HD-DVD Vs BluRay was plain stupid; the three-way skirmish between gaming consoles Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 is exhausting and the all new smartphone OS war is actually moving from dull to a pretty good slugfest. But rarely does technology wage a war against the old guard – truly established old school vs. the all new wiz bang of gadgetry. Yet, a classic battle of epic proportions is taking place right now – Ebooks vs. paper books!

We’ve had paper book fans talk about how they’ll never switch and there have been reams of columns on why Ebooks can be a better experience if only you would give them a shot. Fortunately this little war will be played on many fronts – consumer preference being just one of them.

Those who swear by paper books usually move into emotional and nostalgia mode. They seem to be incapable of reading without the heady smell of paper, the melodious rustle of turning a page, the olfactory experience of fresh ink, the eureka fact that their paper book will never suddenly run out of battery, that they can read while their aircraft is taking off or touching down, that they can hand them down to their friends and family and mostly that there is no strain of looking at a screen for a long period of time.

On the other hand, Ebook warriors seem to be getting a new arsenal everyday. Ebook prices are lower, they are a much greener option with no paper, no distribution, no warehousing, no retail space being used. Paper books are heavy and bulky and you can’t carry too many, while you can store thousands of books on one device, search, mark, look up definitions, make notes and share book passages on Twitter and Facebook in a second. Most importantly, you can set up font size and readability levels that are perfect for you.

Things seemed fairly well balanced when suddenly, Amazon announced that Ebooks now out-sell hardcover books by a factor of 1:2. All hell broke loose with typical hogwash headlines like ‘the beginning of the end’ and ‘it’s all over’ appearing across world media. Is it true then? Are the days for paper books truly numbered?

It has been about three years since the first real Ebook readers appeared. Prices since have fallen by almost 80 per cent, it’s the largest selling device on Amazon, almost every major book seller and consumer electronic maker has a model or two available, authors now release books directly to the public, bypassing the publisher and distributor, the iPad and other devices are pretty good Ebook readers on their own, thus creating some incredible momentum. It would seem that paper books are truly on their way to being dead and buried, right? Wrong! Sales of paper books have actually increased by quite a bit in the last three years. Some say by more than 40 per cent.

It seems that reading itself is staging a huge comeback and it’s now being fuelled on both sides by this very war. You try a Ebook on your phone and suddenly rediscover your passion for reading. Rather than watch a movie on a flight, you now read a book. You curl up with a book instead of sitting up at night watching television. Reading is going through a rediscovery revolution like never before.

Unfortunately it may not be all that balanced in the future! Here are a few controversial predictions. First, in about a year or so, Ebook readers will be given away free. Price are already at the sub $49-100 mark and it is not difficult for retailers to give them away with a contract where you promise to buy 12 Ebooks over a six month period. Second, prices of Ebooks will fall dramatically. This will put a lot of pressure on paper book prices and will make entire industries like paper and publishing go into a tailspin. Libraries will close and second-hand bookshops will be more like antique stores. None of this sounds good for an industry that has been there for literally thousands of years and is an invaluable resource.

There’s a lot to preserve here, a lot to cherish and not give up on. For a gadgety column, this may be a oxymoronic wish – but I really do hope that this time, technology will not triumph in this battle of the heart and mind. Otherwise, as a friend of mine once joked, in the near future we may all be reading an Ebook while keeping a piece of paper alongside. To crush at regular intervals and nostalgically relive the feel and smell of reading a real paper book!

Book Review - May i hebb your attention pliss

A friend of mine, with whom I spent my time in the torture chamber that Kolkata was, forwarded me an address to a blog written by some Bengali Chap called Arnab Ray about a week or two back. The blog can be referred here. Initially I was a bit skeptic about the blog because… well frankly I have not had a great track record with understanding a Bengali mind and frankly found some of the Bengali literature to be way over my head. In fact, if I have to guesstimate it I would say obher the head of most of da pipil. But from the moment I read the first (or is it the latest) post on the blog, I was hooked on to it. The satiric, sarcastic writing of the dude is so interesting to read especially since I am a great fan of that sort of writing. I liked it so much that within a couple of days, I ordered the newly written book of Arnab – “may i hebb your attention pliss”. And what a delight it turned out to be. 

I do recommend that you read the book but first some important things that need to be mentioned-

1) It is not a novel. It does not have any story. The book is divided in chapters and there is no interconnecting links between them except that they have been written by the same demented mind.

2) It provides a view of the world from the perspective of an extremely keen realist who sees the world for how it is and is able to present it with sarcastic twist to it.

3) The humor in the book begins from the first page itself starting with rave reviews” of the book from some of the people who have benefitted from it.

4) The language has been kept very simple and often a mixture of English that we use daily and Hinglish. And you need not have had any exposure to the blog to understand the contents of the book.

5) The chapters relate to Bollywood, Television (especially Saas Bahu sagas), KLPD syndrome, some critical view on the current happenings and most importantly on the lives that we have all lead but never relay observed. The best part about the book that I felt was that you could really associate with what’s written over there and recall your own experiences in the same situation.

6) A special bonus for all those who liked the movie like Loha, Gunda and double entendres in some of the Hindi songs.

What I would have wanted to be more in the book? More twisted views on politicians of India. Something on the Yoga of Baba Ramdev. Probably a chapter on the blind faith practiced in the Indian households… the lost continues. Oh well… you can’t have it all.

Some typos and minor such errors which can be easily ignored. 

All in all… A good read and a must if you are a fan of slightly dark, sarcastic, satiric humoristic writing.

Disclaimer: This book is not for the weak of heart or those who might get tired of laughing. Expect a lot of bad puns and double entendresin the book.

Book(s) Review – Percy Jackson and the Olympians

It's an open secret that I am a big fiction of fantasy literature (Not that kind you pervert!!!). I have read a whole lot of fantasy fiction work from various different authors including Rowling (duh!), Tolkein, Phillip Pullman, C S Lewis, Paolini, Eoin Colfer, Johnnathan Stroud and the likes. And I thought that I was almost done with the entire gamut of such books. Imagine my surprise when I came across an author called Rick Riordan with a “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series. I read the first one tentatively and liked it a lot. Then the remaining four books followed and before I knew, I was loving the entire series and couldn’t wait to how the series ended (Of course I knew that GOOD ALWAYS WINS IN THE END but I was interested to see how the plot develops).

The book is set in the background of the United States and is based on Greek mythology with a twist of the modern world. The series consists of five books: The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, The Titan's Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth, and The Last Olympian. The story revolves around the main character of Percy Jackson, his friends Annabeth Chase, Thalia Grace and Grover Underwood and a horde of other smaller ones. The series uses the epic battle between the Titans and the Greek gods as a backdrop and mingles it with a modern world where it is said that the gods actually exist along with Titans, Cyclopses and the entire range of other mythical creatures like centaurs etc. All these beings co-exist with normal humans who, of course, have no idea of any such existences. These gods are known to have a penchant for “mortals” which of course leads to children, some of which are called demi-gods. These demi-gods have a lot of power with them and are very turned into the tools of the gods because the gods themselves can not interfere in the affairs of the mortals (Remember Hercules?). The protagonist of the story is son of Poseidon, one of the "Big Three" (Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades). The story progresses along with how the protagonist came to be aware of the gods, him being a demigod, having a cyclops as a brother, causing an earthquake, saving god’s asses (pardon the expression) and being welcomed into Empire state building (That’s right… according to story, Mount Olympus is now situated at the mythical 600th floor of the Empire State Building).

The story followed in the book is more or less predictable what with the inevitable concept of good winning over evil. Needless to say that there is a prophecy involved which decides the fate of the demi-gods and sets the gears of fate into motion. Of course no story is complete unless there is a dash of love between the friends, a pinch of jealousy amongst colleagues, clash of ego among the contemporaries and the stuff. And, without a doubt, there have to be certain clichéd elements in the story like an all powerful villain which even the strongest of good guys have failed to defeat but which the protagonist crushes like a twig; a selfless person who decided to sacrifice himself/herself for the greater good.

But what I felt was extremely good about the book was how well the author has been able to unite the concept of Greek gods and goddesses with the contemporary US life and lifestyle. How the author has found, even in the simplest of things, a scope to introduce the element of surprise. How the modern symbols of American life style such as Cheerleaders, McDonalds etc have been incorporated as something having magical backgrounds to them. It is also fascinating to see how the author has been able to mingle the know Greek stories about Ikarus, Pandora’s Box, Troy, Medussa, Achilles’ heel, Hercules etc fit into the story line.

So my suggestion is that if you can, do read this one and you will not regret it.