Trust v. lust

I thought this picture of a lily that I took a few days ago was fitting, its all wrapped up trying to hide from the rest of the world just like me. its really sad. Hiding its wonderful colors from the rest of the world, I set in B&W just for the irony.

The other night my neighbor threw a very successful party...

I did not attend.

*sigh*

As I have already explained I can not join in such festivities as those that took place next door the other night, should I wish to remain in my parents good graces.

It was the most terrible feeling in the world sitting out all day on the porch, hoping for something unexpected to happen out of the blue. Meanwhile I read my English book (*gasp* God forbid I actually finish a reading assignment on time this year!) Brave New World. Troubling. That is the word I would use to describe writings such as Aldous Huxley's. The "brave" soulless clones of a futuristic London went about there preordained work and encountered the fascinating discovery of a savage born of a civilized woman (the embarrassment!), all the while my mind wandered and battled to concentrate on those depressing words of genius concerning the future of mankind.

The title of this post goes out to that night when my parents decided we should have movie night. We watched Bedtime Stories. Very cute. Very family oriented. Anyways afterword John and I ran next door, it killed me, it really did to see all my friends having a ball and not being allowed to go inside. John and I stayed out on the porch for all of three minutes while we asked our neighbor how it was going. Distracted. That would be the one word analysis for that interaction. Sad and disappointing if you want to go a little deeper.

I don't particularly like thinking about why I even went over there in the first place when I knew I would only leave even more disappointed than before. But I know why.

This was all Saturday. Sunday was a blur. I can not remember a thing. No crew for one thing (!) we didn't go to church either? Odd. I finished Brave New World. A friend of mine really wanted to hang out, she is a bad influence so I didn't go off with her. Monday was one long chore. Memorial Day. I sorted shoes. Very ironic to have to sort worn out shoes covered in mud on a day we are supposed to set aside for remembrance of those who trecked far and wide to protect freedom. It wasn't that bad, really. It felt like a waste of an afternoon, but it made my mother happy and it seems as if that is the only reassurance other than grades that I have to validate any work I find myself doing.

the tipping point

this is a picture I took of the boathouse where I row...

Today I reached my limits.

I am not a morning person, never have been, never will, and most certainly was not this morning at 7:30.
I am woken up by the sound of an elliptical spinning while my father "runs," and erg fan turning as my mother rows, and my lovely younger sisters bickering about nothing.

The previous night I had gone to sleep not to late with the assistance of Tylenol PM, hoping to combat a cough I had picked up over the past few days. The reason for the late hour in which I fell asleep is mainly due to the fact that I had promised a friend I would draw a few sketches for a project she was looking to finish. I willing accepted and naturally forgot. So at around 10ish I broke out pencil and paper and threw down a jot basic enough to fit time restrains, but also dynamic enough to fit my friends idea of a finished drawing. The drawing, however, did not take that long and seeing as I would finish earlier than expected I decided I might read a few chapters in the book I had been reading by Ken Follet: Whiteout. It is very good and I highly recommend it.
This is all pretense to the fact that when I awoke this morning I was groggy and not in any mood to wake up before 10. Seeing as I had no tests, no quizzes, absolutely nothing to turn in for any of my classes, today would have been ideal to stay home sick. I am not, I am afraid, quite clever enough to have realized this the previous night. In which case, had I been clever enough to pull the day into perspective, I might have been able to play the "sick and exhausted" card and stay home.
But no. I slaved through the day, coughing, miserable, doing absolutly nothing of purpose in any of my classes, two of which I watched movies in. It was horrible, I was late to every single class I think. I was so tired.
Then at practice this afternoon, naturally the one day I do not bring a tank-top it is terribly hot. I had not eaten lunch due to a lack in funds, I was quite dehydrated, exhausted from practice the previous day, and still trying to emotionally recover from the race at Stotesberry we had just come home from.
In short, I was tapped out and running on empty.
This does not bide well for three-by-twelve minute pieces with twenty stroke bursts on choppy water.
By the second piece I was crying behind my sunglasses in exhaustion. It was as if every stroke was heavier than the one before it. And every worry and concern I have been carrying around the past month seemed to crash down around me in those few minutes.
In the past few months I have managed to effectivly lose:
my wallet (with my permit inside)
my phone (the only nice electronic equipement I own besides my camera)
all of my rain gear ($170 coat, GONE.)
a pair of my shoes that just disapeared
the battery charger to my camera
any number of homework assignments I either forgot to do or simply left at home, never to be seen again

and I have begun to bite my nails again...a habit I have not engaged in since elementary school

My grades have fallen from bad to worse. The beginning of the year I had all A's and B's, second quater I caught pnemonia, and my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. My grades fell to C's and D's. Third quater nothing spectacular happened and I pulled most of my grades back up and won a Principles award, and was elected to be vice president of our class for next year. However this quater comes around and throws me for one. Midterms came out: all time low. D's and E's. This quater, the wieght of the year bore down hard.
The fact that I have to enroll in summer school for the first time really bites. The fact that I threw my brother a huge birthday party that he will never fully appreciate and that I won't be able to have such extravagance on my birthday because my mom will be too sick by then to handle it. The fact that I will never be able to both go to parties on the weekends with friends and have my parents trust at the same time. The fact that crew is ending in five days, and it isn't soon enough.
I am a complete mess.
The money I had saved up to get a hair cut with ended up going towards my art lab fee. This would put getting a hair cut out of the realm of possibility for a good time now, seeing as tomorrow after I take the chemistry SOL I will be accompanying my mother wig shopping. She just started chemo and will be loosing her hair soon.
She's trying to put on a brave face.
But it doesn't help at all.

All these thoughts, all these internal struggles that I can usually just push down inside me, they all found their way out into the light at 5 PM today somewhere on the water between Key Bridge and the Boathouse. It was literally all I could do to hold onto that oar and keep from screaming.

After practice a few of the girls asked what was wrong.
I said I was fine.
I didn't know where to start.

All I knew was that I was done.

All right back to the books, but first

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Yes I have been particularly lazy reading and posting for the past month and a half, so I'll have to play catch-up for a while, but no worries I have many good literary works that are in my bag and one the shelf all awaiting their moment to shine. I've hunkered down and gotten a large mug of coffee and set myself up for a beautiful Thanksgiving with my large extended family (even if by the end I will be completely and totally out of my mind.)

I would have liked to come up with some weird or unknown bizarre facts about Thanksgiving for you, but there happens to be very little information that tarnishes the national holiday sooo, onto the BOOKS!!!!!!!

my review on Comes A Horseman, by Robert Liparulo and some of the other, less deep, books I've finished in the past few weeks or so.

National Book Festival!!!!!

Okay, today was probably the busiest, weirdest, and most strenuous day this year for my family, we had football, we had t-ball, we had baseball, we had groceries, but to make all of this bearable we had THE NATIONAL BOOK FESTIVAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! alright so we were on the Beltway going downtown (Washington dc) and I'm just jumping in my seat smiling like theres no tomorrow because we had only an hour break before my baby brothers first "bash ball" same thing as t-ball only for smaller kids game, and I had to relinquish my much needed hair cut plans to go, but it was beyond worth it (even if I only stayed for about an hour). I got to see Holly Black: (Ironside, Valient, Tithe, and the Spiderwich Chornicles) speak for a while and got an awesome bag and pictures and posters and and and!!!!!!! It was just so great getting to play tourist in my hometown, locals take everything for granted, everyday they walk by the Washington Monument ( its so awesome during crew season we row right on the Potomac in Georgetown so we are literally underneath it and every time we go up river we "pass" it but because of the sides it always looks like it's in front of us!) and see the Capital building on their way into work and are surrounded by some of the most influcenal and powerful men and women of America, but they still whine and complain about their day jobs, *sigh* the world is so blind.
Anyway, it was just so cool and so Washington DC. I loved it. This is me and my little sis out on the Mall! We also got to see THE Magic School Bus, and the dudes from C-SPAN.




and then theres me again bursting with joy, yeah, I'm dork, isn't it great!?

Sammy Keyes and The Wild Things, Wendelin Van Draanen

I probably should jhave posted these reviews ages ago and a few will be pure copy and paste from several Word documents rotting away on my moms hardrive. Among these is a review I did on The River, By Gary Paulsen (and Brains Winter after I dig it out of my binder from a few years back) But before I go deep into the Canadian Wilderness with a boy struggleing for survial I want to share a more recent read, well not that recent, i mentioned it in a previous post as I finished reading it at 3am. Sammy Keyes and The Wild Things, a pleasent, fast, and witty adventure, that I would have liked moreif it had stayed a little more to form with previous Sammy Keyes escapedes (my favorite, and the first one I read, is Sammy Keyes and the Art Deception, but being a self described art-freack and a "long-winded" reader it shouldn't surprise that many I went for the longest book in the sierse and the one with "art" in the title)
Sammy is at it again, only this time instead of fending off mummies, psychotic kitty freaks, art thiefs, crimial masterminds, and landlords, shes out to save the condors?! A little dramatic, Nancy Drew meets Indian Jones as she treks through the frogotten "wilderness" of Santa Maria with a bunch of bid obcessed girl scouts. Encountering some of the worlds worst blisters after(*gasp*) she gave up her high-tops for bulky hiking boots and running into some very unlikely people along the way; My overall impression was a bit dull for an adventure/mystery. But I recomend it for younger readers and people who like high quality humor or at least irony.
:) good book. read it.

The Empress's Tomb, By Kristen Miller

Alright due largely to technical difficulties and my stomachs uncooperative state (and a very unfair banishment from the computer seeing it got to train up to New York and I was stuck at home) I have been unable to finish this review and been out done by many other reviewers with their witty remarks on how awesome this book is, and I haven't even finished yet!? It is a very unfair world, and that is why I was completely enamored with the first Kiki Strike adventure; Kiki Strike's world is full to a fault (a very good fault mind you) with all the reality of a modern teenage girls drama-ridden life with an inside pass to an elite group: The Irregulars.
This inside pass gives you leave of boredom and gives you something to look forward to after Algebra homework, and one of the real reasons I fell in love with the book was because it made you feel like you had real friends on your side. This naturally is not something I tell my teachers when I review books for them, but in general it helps to have a teen heroine who's modern, intelligent, witty, and has a cunning that would leaves you wondering what could she possibly be planning, but you know will win in the end. This heroine however in the course of the book was shifted back and forth from Ananka Fishbean, the narrator and "girl next door" type, to the mysterious Kiki Strike. Both are brilliant in all there written glory, and the adventures that the two encounter together along with five other "delinquent girl-scouts" are incredible. And I haven't even started on the book this review is supposed to be about.

Back to the Empress, The Irregulars: Kiki Strike, Anaka Fishbean, Oona Wong, Luz Lopez, Dee Dee Morlock, Betty Bent, and new-comer Iris are at it again with New York City under attack from mugger, gaint squirrels, a haunted mansion, and naturally the Irregulars themselves. Very morally centered around how secrey breaks trust and undersrtanding, lies, and deicet play along that theme as well, daring the limits of the thin threads that hold the Ireggulars together. With the help of a vintidicated artist, a poisoned bullet, a love potion, and secrets hiddened for years, the unlikly heronines face a bigger challenge then they thought when they end up facing one another looking for answers. And it turns out even with the help of an eleven year-old dressed like a creme-puff, Dee Dee can not concoct a potion strong enough to hide the stench of lies among them. All the while Ananka faces a fate worse then death, banishment from New York to pig-ridden West Virginia. Death, I must say, would look far brighter a future then such a prospect. And then they all lived happily ever after... yeah right. This book wasn't your average "flash light under the covers" (guilty as charged) read, I fear Ms. Miller was wrong when she said I'm tough to please, this may be true with fantasy, with mystery all it takes is a good moment of truth, which, I can happily assure you The Empress Tomb can more than suffice.
The Empress really makes you wonder about your own acquaintences and the secrets so subtly hinted at before, but not entirlly interesting. Now these little untold truths are so shockingly mysterious as you begin to wonder about all the siggns your friends might have given as clues or insights. It's all curiouslly awakening. With all these details I've hardly even begun giving an opinion, well an unbiased one anyway. And now my horribly honest judgement of Ms. Miller's writing
**Mwaa Ha Ha Ha**
It was so completely WICKED!!!!!! Someone already used "awesome" so I'm forced to resort to other adjectives defining brillaince...Superb, for one, refeshing, and different (which is a very very good thing). This book comes highly recommended and is for anyone who is in love with New York and/or mystery. The book also gives helpful insights on how to be myertious, which was so cool because I got to try it out after being sick for half the week--none of them needed to know my whereabouts anyway. The other advice in the book was equally great. So I'm completely in love with the Irregulars and the book was well worth the two year wait and I will gladly wait twice as long, as long as there is promise of more adventures with the mysterious Kiki Strike and company.
Ms. Miller isn't that cynical though and has kindly given us an insight into the odder happenings of New York and fasinating facts on other bizarre and otherwise over looked information that will blow your mind, all of which can be found at Ananka's Blog

parting thought:

Do you believe in ghosts?

Romantic Mysteries...I've offically been sucked in

Never in my life have I once picked up a "gossip girl" or" A-list" series book with mild interest if not total disgust in a waste of print and paper, but it seems the majority of female youth have an entirely different take on the books turning them into national bestsellers and must reads for teenage girls; Ah, good 'ol pop culture meets the publishing houses giving American teens the summer reading they will actually read, who knew? throw in a blond, a beach, and a couple surfer guys and the occasional all-out cat fight and you have yourself a hook, line, and sinker for at least 3 quarters of my graduating class's interest (the 1 fourth in question is waiting for the movie instead)
So much for the classical Shakespeare romance...
Well maybe not, Lauren Willig's books: The Secert History of the Pink Carnation, The Masque of the Black tulip, and the newest installment: the Deception of the the Emerald Ring are by far some of the best books I've ever read/plan to read (pre-ordering paper back Emerald Ring)
and if not they are certainly among the funniest and most witty! Ms. (hopeful Dr.) Willig has managed to make a great hybrid of Jane Austen meets Agatha Christie, with romance coordinated into the perilous adventures of spies in the Napoleonic 1800's with the added bonus of being hysterical as well.
So like all of my reading material it came into my possession via the odd and bizarre ways of fate as usual. I reconsidered checking out Kiki Strike at the local library three times (this involved picking it up walking around the library in search of an alternative, putting it back, flipping through it bored, and then running back for it at the last minute) before actually taking it home were I after finishing in an all nighter I purchased it hurriedly off Amazon.com and now obsess over a fictional character from the book's blog and have already pre-ordered the sequel. I have hundreds of stories to the same effect from having nothing to read on a red eye flight back to DC to tripping over a book my mother bought but never read in our basement to randomly browsing in Costco, which brings me back to Ms. (future Dr.) Willig's books. Costco is the Wal-mart of the closest shopping center to my house, back in Maryland it was Wal-Mart and Sam's Club, little short on those in my new neighbor hood, the any sort of establishment that sells diapers in large quantities and large enough to "feed-the-church" sized products are a bright welcome sign to any seven person family living under a budget. The only problem with Costco, is the fact that it is in fact, Costco, not Whole Foods, were being a recently converted carnivore-turned-vegan I would much prefer to shop as opposed to "Bigger is better" products of the food warehouses. So as my mother is buying dead pigs and cows (I don't really have any right to be so brutal since she just brought me vegan oatmeal cookies and soy "ice-cream" -- long long day...) I went over to scan the store's book selection. being the book worm I am I'm going to smugly point out how lacking the selection is in comparison to the multitude of music and videos available, but for no reason other then I guess boredom I picked up The Masque of the Black Tulip, which is weird because I usually like more contemporary reading or strict classics and have read some where between only 3 or 4 fictional history novels and even fewer romances, I'll admit, I was curious...plus I needed reading for my 8 hour flight to Peru, but seeing I've finished both of the two I purchased for this very purpose a trip to the nearest book store is certainly in order. So I naively pick up Black Tulip skim the back and miss the whole romance aspect completely only catching only the bit about espionage (I can just see my mother rolling her eyes) thinking it'll be just like Hercule Poirot only with a female main character instead, well! They certainly were! And much much more!
So now it's the middle of the night (I'm so weird the only time I get any good writing done it's at totally odd hours of the night) and I'm half way through Wendelin Van Draanen's newest Sammy Keyes book, Sammy Keyes and the Wild Things--11th in the series, all previous novels I finished out of order(due to availability at the library, but now after moving I haven't found a good library yet and have resorted to enlisting amazon.com"s wealth of reading material in my bookwormship) and in the straight forward manner I finish all worth-while books: straining my eyes in dim light till 3 am on the couch down stairs, with several bottles of water and snacks.
After all of this the only thing left is to give you a little parting advise from an obssessed book worm, under eye conceler. lots and lots of under eye conceler...that and cute book marks :)

Showdown, by Ted Dekker

I read Showdown after I read Saint so I could get a few clarifications that complicated things in Saint needless to say everything made sense after I had read everything and looked back on the things that hadn't made all that much sense. Showdown delivered more then expected, and gave spine tingling jitters to the biggest horror junkies or to at least those who true understood the meaning behind all of it. In one of Mr. Dekker's recent blog posts he said: "It occurs to me that I tend to write Naked Novels. Meaning my characters are deeply flawed, struggling with real evil, living in worlds in which the darkness is dark and the light is anything but gray." He writes with a vengeance and deep awakening in each and everyone of his books...

I'm just copying strait from Mr. Dekkers website since I can't find my book's sleeve, why can't siblings understand the importance of individual property?? Here is a bit of Mr. Dekkers intellectual property:
Showdown
It begins on a lazy summer day in a small, secluded mountain town named Paradise. But in Paradise, nothing is as it seems.
When a stranger named Marsuvees Black appears and announces he's come to bring hope and grace to Paradise, the town isn't sure how to respond. He offers dazzling love, hope, faith, and fun . . . the kind of fun everyone desires but is too timid to pursue. He knows the unspoken secrets of each person's heart--and has the power to grant them.
Tucked deep in the nearby canyons is a monastery long hidden from the world. Within its walls is power beyond comprehension. Yet that power is quickly slipping out of control.
As dark clouds and sandstorms shut Paradise off from the rest of the world, the unthinkable happens. Readers will be shocked as they discover the true secrets of this sleepy town. The ultimate collision between good and evil begins . . . with Showdown.

Amazing. Reading this book I almost wanted to pull my own eyeballs out after all that had happened to the poor town... Once again Ted Dekker spins a story pitting good vs. evil, an all or nothing fight to the bitter end action novel, that underneath it all seems more a story about a boy lost, searching for love and hope in the midst of chaos. Showdown is a book for again, older more mature readers and absolutely anyone who thinks they have self pity issues. There are big problems in the world out there, this book really shows the fight between good and evil with flare and ingenuity. The beginning chapter was the only part of the book that really threw me, but after digging into the book everything became so twisted it didn't matter. Great ending, amazing plot, secrets unveiled at just the right moment...the funny thing was that my mother wasn't all that impressed by this book as she has been by Dekkers other writing, but I loved it. I cryed, and smiled, and let out that huge breath of air I hadn't realized I was holding until I let it out. A 4 out of 5 stars for sure!

Saint, by Ted Dekker

I actually read Saint before I read Showdown which should be read first, but when I was down in the boondocks for another baseball tournament with John, Saint was the book on the shelf at Wal-Mart so while our coach put his son up at bat I read the mind twisting, good vs. evil, "search for identity" thriller, since from experience with my brothers team nothing all that thrilling tends to happen during the game. Since I read Saint first, I do believe I will review it first. Here is the description on the back cover:

I know a few things about myself. I know that my name is Carl. My wife is Kelly. I love her more then my own life. I f she told me to kill you, I would.
I'm a captive, deep inside Hungary-no one knows I'm here. I can put a bullet into a ten inch target at 3,000 yards. They tell me that I'm the best sniper in the world. Sometimes I sit in my dark hole for days without moving so that they don't hurt me. I can kill a man with my bare hands.
I know a few things about myself. My name is Carl. They call me Saint.
I think they want me to kill you.

Ted Dekker is a genius. The beginning was a little complicated, but the deeper I got into the book the better it got, different twists and turns you'd never expect, people and characters really formed the story more then the actual plot. The settings really were unimportant after a while, that's how deep the characters presence on the page was, reading it I began to wonder if the things they were doing were physical possibilities, Mr. Dekker gave such compelling cases for every action and emotion he had his characters exhibited. I wouldn't recommend this book for younger readers, but for teens and adults this book is a must read for anyone who finds fascination in the supernatural versus science type books. The positive elements of this book are just too numerous to list, and the not so great parts where few and far between and mainly had to do with the breaking down of Carl's character and identity, but everything had a place in the book and made sence in the end. I would give this book a solid 4 out of 5 stars, for plot, characters, and romance--no humor and it seemed a little sad, but a very very good read.

Iced, By Carol Higgens Clark

So far in the past month I have finished four books and have started another. The first book I finished was Iced, by Carol Higgins Clark.
Here is the description on the back:
P.I. Regan Reilly has high hopes for her Aspen vacation. But a mystery soon has the chic detective snooping rather than skiing. Million-dollar paintings have been disappearing, and an old friend of Regan's-a folksy ex-con named Eben Bean- has vanished too.
Everyone except Regan believes that Eben has gone bad...again. Her hunt to find him leads away from the tourist crowd into the founding families of this former frontier town. She never expects to get in hot water with a wild and woolly seventy-something lady who has a shocking secret she'd die to keep. Or get in over her head trying to save a famous portrait a dangerous criminal would kill to steal. Now the snow is falling, the plot is thickening , and Regan is engaged in a different winter sport, one that's right up her alley--trying to catch a thief!

Hook, line, and sinker, described by Publishers Weekly as "the quintessential beach book..." My Aunt brought a lot of books with her when we were on vacation she recomended it to me so I tryed out the book while developing melnoma (tanning) Here is my relentless review (my atempt at being funny, only nobodies laughing...great). I would recomend Iced, for it's humor and it's plot--plus the ending was really good, a real cliff hanger--cordinating romance and mystery in a good way without being cheesy, okay maybe a little but no book is perfect...besides Kiki Strike!! Regan was a very realistic character that I think a lot of single women could relate to, and I would recomend this book for mainly women in there mid-20's to the grannies in nursing homes, I know my Babcia (Polish for grandmother) would like it. As I look back on the book now the only "bad" part would be the ending was a bit of a give away in some aspects, even though I didn't realize it while I was reading it. A good book on the whole, 4 and a half out of 5 stars definatly!

House, by frank Peretti and Ted Deckker

i went to Cambridge and i am beginning to think that the ivy league thing isn't going to be for me, but fortunately that is a couple years away and i still have time to procrastinate. anyway off topic, whole different post, the book i am going to review (judge) for you today is: House, by frank Peretti and Ted Decker. House is the story of four travelers who all get trapped in an old house out in the middle of no where and have to fend off a psycho-killer. the book is about the game that this serial killer has set up involving the already terrified passer byers (who all converged on the house because there tires were slashed). the house rules/ rules of the games are as follows: #1-God came to my house and i killed him, (i still fail to see how this is a rule,) #2-anyone who comes to my house will be killed, like i killed God, #3- give me one dead body and I'll let rule 2 slide... so the story revolves around these two couples being mentally manipulated and broken down to the last straw until of course they have a dead body and the threat remains...

Hangmans Curse, by Frank Peretti

this is the first (technically third) of many book reviews yet to come. i chose this book because, one i loved it, two all my friends loved it, and three because you will love it if you read it.
this book is the first book in the Veritas Project series (Veritas is Latin for truth). the main story line is that there have been odd mental/physical breakdowns among select students (athletes) who have all claimed to have seen the mysterious phantom, Abel Frye, a kid who went to the school they attend and hung himself in one of the stair ways, and as most phantoms do, haunts the school, anyone who he doesn't like, or has done him wrong. so kids are freaked out, parents are taking kids out of school, people are on the brink of death in psyche ward at hospital, because of some freak ghost, who on earth has any likely capability of helping the poor hopeless soles being followed around by the spirit of a dead child? the Springfields. a family of spys/government help who take on various projects seeking the truth out of sticky situations. after a drug bust the family is called to investigate the school by sending in there teenage twins: Elijah and Elisha. the two go undercover as students to find countless mysteries and questions about the school, witchcraft, bullying, and a diabolical weapon that no one would ever see coming. this book will definably keep you on the edge of your seat, although it's probably not what his adult readers were looking for, it is a great read for teens and young adults. to learn more about Mr. Peretti here is his webpage: Frank Peretti

the looking glass wars

first of all if the people from TAB are reading this i am indifferent if it is a to be a favorite or not.
everyone has there own opinions, one person can find Shakespeare moving, while another can find it repulsive.

Alice in Wonderland, a beloved book with a new counterpart: Alyss in Wonderland, a twisted mockery of the funny and whimsical original book. i thought first that it was a great book, but then it began to sound really corny, seven year olds fall in love and some how hold onto i for thirteen years? albino tutors? seeing dead parents in a mirror (total jip from Harry Potter)? dancing at a masquerade ball with a long lost love (total jip from phantom of the opera)? the fantasy aspect was a total drag after reviewing it, turtle-birds and jaberwocky's? come on. Frank Beddor is strait out Hollywood ambition. he knows what he wants: roller coasters and patented comic books, and he has all the means to obtain them, he even took the time to share his ego with the rest of us by providing a site that displayed all these ideas of his(it is actually a very cool site and be sure to look at the art work): looking glass wars.
this story is all about the war between Alyss and her aunt who are struggling for power over the Wonderland throne, then after the war we don't get to see the repair of wonderland or anything. the ending it self too, Alyss has to go through the looking glass maze to become queen, dead give away to the ending; then when she wins the war the book is wrapped up quickly and nothing ever happens to the romance that has with stood thirteen years of waiting (i kidd you not absolutly nothing happens), there is no revelation point other then Alyss realizing that she can't let anger control her; the original cute and promising premise that sounded like such a good book isn't hardly followed up.
you have the bad parts now here are the brighter elements, few as they are: most of the history of Alice Lyndell was true! all hope is not lost, until of course you realize that he has set you up for sequel to clarify on the happenings of Redd(Alyss's aunt and villianess) and the Cat(the evil assassin sent after Alyss) and the would-be romance (as you can see i am very set off by this lack of romance) more some-what good parts: it is a very cute story if you can get past the gory war scenes, mass murders (which to be perfectly honest weren't necessary for the book), and orphan girl with terrible step parents, and the bad image that Lewis Carrol gets- he is seen as a wimp and anarchist from the very first page.
as a whole it is very good book if you like Hollywood-has-beens who are trying to expand there resumes by adding author to the list. but i liked it the first time i read it so that has to count for something, but i do think making four trailers for a book is a bit extreme. the website was well done even if the book wasn't so hot after all, and the art work is awesome and the merchandise isn't that bad either (not like i'm going to buy any of it though)
i realize the review i just gave was probably depressing for some who might have looked forward to reading the book(such as myself, who spent a chunk of time looking for it after a friend recommended it) and don't get me wrong it is good reading material, it just isn't original. the first time i read it i had no ideas or thoughts of the book, but flipping back through it the only true creativity in the writing was in only in the scenes that involved the pool of tears and then alot of dry spots followed. the characters were interesting they were what kept me from just giving up on the book, i wanted to see Alyss get her crown (and wouldn't you guess, the coronation is in the sequel, the book's ending literally falls off a cliff) i wanted for Dodge(the boy who Alyss falls unrealistically in love with) to get his revenge and everyone wants for Redd to die (all of these went unfulfilled). it was a good book, but i do wish that Beddor had taken the time to write something that had a real moment were you knew if you put the book down you would never forgive yourself (one night i actually fell asleep mid sentence, and i was nearing the end of the book too) on the other hand there are people who like books like that and this review shouldn't keep you from reading the book.
this book defiantly had it's ups and alot of downs, but it was fantasy so i'm not really sure if i should judge this book or not, in the end though it is still a book and all books should be given a chance to be read, unless it was written by Hillary Clinton or Paris Hilton, in this case it wasn't so enjoy!