Thursday, December 15, 2011
Naming pets after beloved literary characters.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
The Maze Runner Trilogy
Hello all!
I recently finished reading The Maze Runner trilogy, by James Dashner. I read the first two probably a year ago, and I did put a very short review in an earlier post, but now Ill go a little more in depth with it.
The first book, The Maze Runner, starts off with the man character Thomas, waking up in a dark, metal box. He has no idea where he is, whats going on, or even who he is, aside from his name. The box starts to move, and when the top opens up, he sees a group of boys looking down on him. He soon learns that he has been placed in a large, farm like place the other boys call the glade. Large stone walls surround the glade, with doors that open every morning, and close every night. And on the other side of the walls lies a maze. A maze that doesn't appear to have a solution. A maze that fills with monsters every night when the doors close.
A few weeks after Thomas arrives, the box he arrived in opens again, and for the first time, the glade has a female resident. Teresa is unconscious when she is lifted out, and in her hand, a note that says 'She is the last one. Ever.' When she comes to, all she says is 'Everything is going to change,' and then passes back out. And she is right. Everything does change.
Without giving to much away, the second book, The Scorch Trials, and the third book, The Death Cure, are equally as enticing and equally as good of a read as The Maze Runner. I really enjoyed all three books, although I feel like the second and third could very well have been a single book. I also have to think that, by the end of the Death Trials, there were quite a few unanswered questions still in my mind. And that is one thing that annoys me quite a bit. Why mention something if you are just going to leave it up in the air, especially when you have finsihed the book in a way that there cannot be a sequel.
But I don't want to criticize to much, because I really did enjoy the books, and I definitely would recommend them. I find that I have a bit of a thing for dystopian novels, and if anyone has any suggestions of other, let me know!
I recently finished reading The Maze Runner trilogy, by James Dashner. I read the first two probably a year ago, and I did put a very short review in an earlier post, but now Ill go a little more in depth with it.
The first book, The Maze Runner, starts off with the man character Thomas, waking up in a dark, metal box. He has no idea where he is, whats going on, or even who he is, aside from his name. The box starts to move, and when the top opens up, he sees a group of boys looking down on him. He soon learns that he has been placed in a large, farm like place the other boys call the glade. Large stone walls surround the glade, with doors that open every morning, and close every night. And on the other side of the walls lies a maze. A maze that doesn't appear to have a solution. A maze that fills with monsters every night when the doors close.
A few weeks after Thomas arrives, the box he arrived in opens again, and for the first time, the glade has a female resident. Teresa is unconscious when she is lifted out, and in her hand, a note that says 'She is the last one. Ever.' When she comes to, all she says is 'Everything is going to change,' and then passes back out. And she is right. Everything does change.
Without giving to much away, the second book, The Scorch Trials, and the third book, The Death Cure, are equally as enticing and equally as good of a read as The Maze Runner. I really enjoyed all three books, although I feel like the second and third could very well have been a single book. I also have to think that, by the end of the Death Trials, there were quite a few unanswered questions still in my mind. And that is one thing that annoys me quite a bit. Why mention something if you are just going to leave it up in the air, especially when you have finsihed the book in a way that there cannot be a sequel.
But I don't want to criticize to much, because I really did enjoy the books, and I definitely would recommend them. I find that I have a bit of a thing for dystopian novels, and if anyone has any suggestions of other, let me know!
Friday, December 2, 2011
And so it ends...
Ah, NaNoWriMo. How I loathe you while you are here, and yet how I miss you when your gone. Technically, its been over for only two days, but I actually validated on the 25th, and I'm sad to say I barely glanced at my novel again after that. Five wasted days, in which I could have gotten at least 10k more, and instead I did nothing. I don't really feel to bad about it though, for a couple reasons. One being that I feel like my novel this year was much more original, and much more enjoyable. Not a single zombie makes an appearance, although a man eating monkey makes up for it.And the other being that I got a job and actually had other things to do with my time, unlike the rest of the month.
Right now, I am happy for the break from thinking of nothing but my novel. I am happy for the break for my wrists, which started to get quite achy around the tenth. But this year, I really want to get somewhere with this novel. The biggest obstacle in that is going to be the fact that I now need to rewrite the whole thing. About halfway through, I decided that having my main character be a middle aged man made no sense with the rest of the plot, and that really, he should be an orphaned teenager. I really didn't want to scrap the twenty or so thousand words I had at that point, so I just kept writing it the way it was, thinking that a complete rewrite wouldn't suck as much as being wordless in the middle of the month. And I was right, it doesn't. I have started the rewrite, and its going well. I'm just going to tell myself that it is still November, and keep trying to reach a respectable word count every day.
I am quite glad that NaNo came into my life. I love the challenge of it, and I think it had changed who I am. Now that I know I can do something as crazy as write a book in a month, I know I can do anything. (Hooray for cheesy lines!!) When I was a little kid, I wanted to be a writer. Now, I'm twenty six, and I still want to be a writer. And with every NaNo I do, the closer I get to that dream. Hats off to my fellow wrimos, the crazy bunch that they are!
I getting another early review book from LibraryThing, so expect a review of that once I receive the book, as well a combined review for The Maze Runner Trilogy, which I just finished reading.
Right now, I am happy for the break from thinking of nothing but my novel. I am happy for the break for my wrists, which started to get quite achy around the tenth. But this year, I really want to get somewhere with this novel. The biggest obstacle in that is going to be the fact that I now need to rewrite the whole thing. About halfway through, I decided that having my main character be a middle aged man made no sense with the rest of the plot, and that really, he should be an orphaned teenager. I really didn't want to scrap the twenty or so thousand words I had at that point, so I just kept writing it the way it was, thinking that a complete rewrite wouldn't suck as much as being wordless in the middle of the month. And I was right, it doesn't. I have started the rewrite, and its going well. I'm just going to tell myself that it is still November, and keep trying to reach a respectable word count every day.
I am quite glad that NaNo came into my life. I love the challenge of it, and I think it had changed who I am. Now that I know I can do something as crazy as write a book in a month, I know I can do anything. (Hooray for cheesy lines!!) When I was a little kid, I wanted to be a writer. Now, I'm twenty six, and I still want to be a writer. And with every NaNo I do, the closer I get to that dream. Hats off to my fellow wrimos, the crazy bunch that they are!
I getting another early review book from LibraryThing, so expect a review of that once I receive the book, as well a combined review for The Maze Runner Trilogy, which I just finished reading.
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