The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

Title: The Girl with All the Gifts
Author: M.R. Carey (Mike Carey)
Original Publication Date: June 6, 2014
Publisher: Orbit
Pages: 460
Genre/s: Science-Fiction, Post-Apocalypse, Zombies












The Girl with All the Gifts is the book with all the treats.

The Girl with All the Gifts is Pandora's Box

Deciding what to have for supper was a subtle battle of attrition. The fact that Pasta won is a victory I could have lived with. Working within the defined limits of cooking, I prepared everything that was needed, left the Pasta boiling, and waited. Everything was going smoothly, almost asking, begging, that something go wrong, just as it does every time I walk into this alien dimension called kitchen. I should have stuck there, waited for the pasta to be firm, except that I went ahead and read this, and that's when everything started to go pleasantly wrong. The only conscious act I seem to remember aside from reading is flipping through the introduction. Before I knew it, I was 1/3s done, with it, an indefinable black mass. Alas, I have burned the victor beyond recognition, and necessarily induced a palatal fit of sadness. No worries. This is, after all, the book with all the treats, if anything, it will get me through the night. And it did, for if night is defined by nothing else but a natural state of rest during which our eyes are closed and one becomes unconscious, it was then a very foreign concept in that limited instance. I went to bed, but not to sleep. I stirred and turned a page, I changed positions and turned another. And then again, as if sucked by this ineluctable book-induced vacuum where time is but a word and urgency a concept, I turned the final page. I just finished reading The Girl with All the Gifts and it brutally severed me from my reading reverie. It was 4 A.M. I have not prepared my arguments for today's moot court practice which will surely lead to a mediocre if not a laughable performance, I did not slip out of my clothes which left me aching on undesirable regions, my eyes were unsuitably watery, my eyelids were falling as if tied down with concrete barriers, I was so lightheaded as if I myself was walking on air. I did not sleep at all. No worries. After all, I just read The Girl with All the Gifts. And it has made all the difference.

And yes, it's that GOOD.

disclaimer: possible science-fiction bias in play

caveat: proper review forthcoming, perhaps after a good dinner and some sufficient sleep.

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

Title: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
Author:  Max Brooks
Publisher: Crown
Publication Date: September 6, 2006
Pages: 342

I had to read this twice so that I could review it. The first time was wholly devoted for the satisfaction for my growing insatiable thirst of the literary work from the post apocalyptic zombie genre. The second, for the claimed critical review.

For all its worth, aside from genuinely giving the zombie genre a foothold to establish itself as a legitimate  class by itself, Max Brooks has successfully revolutionized the traditional platform of novel writing.

The employment  of an objective presentation of oral recorded histories is magnificent and reveling. Not only did it transcend the traditional, linear narrative form of story writing , it was employed masterfully so that the grand scenario was adroitly painted through the systematic presentation of personal stories. intellectually stimulating and a a clear literary pleasure in one. This is why I find it rather disappointing that the great dissenters of the greatness of this book is anchored on the argument that 'they' cannot seem to follow the story given its non traditional, non linear narrative form. Truly, a shame, but more so, a great loss.

I have yet to confirm my second point of adulation for Max Brooks writing(the truthfulness or rather the accurateness of material facts). Suffice it so say that he has written with a great range, albeit shortly. I love the possibilities Max Brooks has perpetuated in this book.

The critique of this work, if one may arguably call it, ironically lies with its form too, something I almost didn't notice at all, perhaps because at the subtlety with which Max Brooks has crafted this book. One reason this book is so enjoyable is that the persons from whom the oral histories have been taken were almost always witty, funny and smart ( I admit this is rather more personal than objective). All I'm saying is that it could be more realistic if there were some (more) natural (not boring) recorded oral histories. But I guess this has to be counter weighed with the ends the author sought to achieved, the enjoyability, and the marketability of the book.

P.S.
the movie is nothing like the book except for the concept of a u.n. worker and the high walls of Israel. It has merits as a movie, but as an adaptation, a lot has to be desired.

The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson

Originally posted on Goodreads

PERFECTION.

I am staring at this page, and time and time again, I return to the same question whenever I write a review for something I have come to love, Why is it so hard to write and talk about something we love? And so easy to author extended reviews on the ones we hate? I somehow always attribute this to physical science. Human emotion is located in the Limbic system of the brain, while human speech and communication in the frontal lobe. It is said that the frontal lobe is a fairly recent development in terms of human mental evolution. It is not surprising then that people subjected to a flurry of emotions would have dominating Limbic systems trumping out the frontal lobe, leaving us somewhat, speechless. As i am now.

Perfection, that is all I have to say to what Brandon Sanderson has done with the Mistborn Trilogy.

The magical system was not only novel and unique but well thought of. The plot twists and revelations did not feel forced and unprecedented, in the contrary they were well situated and considered. There is subtle morality in the work. The character development was excellent, substantial and veracious. Again, this is lack of capacity on my part to express what Sanderson has endeavored to create and has successfully done here. I apologize for such failing.

I appreciate this work on a more grand and epic scale the likes of which we rarely see in the fantasy genre.

First is that Sanderson has created this work incorporating ideas that do not lie in banalities' sphere. Perpetuated in his discussions of wars of stabilization rather than of conquest, of eunuchs and women rather than of men, of scholars rather than of warriors, of mistaken antagonists rather than of perpetual and one-dimensional adversaries, of beliefs and cultures rather than of grand narratives and especially of tragedies rather than those of perfect happy endings. And somehow he has masterfully integrated such themes into more commonplace ideas of human emotions of trust, love and betrayal; of class stratification and conflict; of politics, and of god mythologies.

The more substantial antecedent of this work however is something that the fantasy genre needs. This work has splendidly and masterfully pierced Tolkien's veil of dominance and hegemony that he has so imposingly laid over the fantasy genre, albeit unprecedentedly. It has established itself independently as a worthy read in the genre without attaching and employing cliches, recurring plots, and elves and dwarves in the picture. Perhaps I am guilty of romanticizing this work, I however absolve myself, after all, I did say that I simply love this work.