Books 16-18
The Book of Destiny by Carlos Barrios
Okay I had to read at least one book about 2012 didn’t I? I figured why not read one by an actual Mayan priest since I know they certainly didn’t mean the end of the world like all the other idiots are running around screaming. This book really was a nice an introduction to current Mayan living, Mayan philosophy and history. No book on 2012 is complete without talking crystal skulls which this does and gives an idea what they might be for. I enjoyed Barrios narrative voice and the stories he chose to tell.
Naturally, the end of the world should be better stated as the end of this era with a new one following. The Mayan were (and are) very good mathematicians (and medically advanced for their ‘golden age’ back in the days before the conquistadors) and kept calendars of amazing accuracy running for thousands of years. They had some pretty impressive astronomical abilities as well. Speaking of the conquistadors, they are mentioned to and not in a nice way (big surprise)
The second half of the book is all about Mayan ‘astrology’ and how it affected them, apparently deeply. Pretty much you were expected to go in to whatever career whose sign you were born under (and that for me makes little plot bunnies breed in my head). It was difficult at first to wade through it then I sort of gave up since there was no way of figuring out how it related to our calendar until I flipped back to the rich appendices. (Really that should have been at the forefront of this not the end because really reading star sign after star sign gets dull). I’m T’zi, the dog. Apparently we’re all about law and order and spiritual growth. We’re great writers (yay) and better lovers (double yay) though we tend to end up alone (well I’m there now…). We’re doctors, lawyers, educators and mathematicians (Okay I’m a doctor, now an educator with a minor in math so…). My power places are mountains and beaches (two favorite places though I can’t just sit on a beach) And it includes people such as Steven Spielberg, J.K. Rowling, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and…uh, Hitler…
The one thing I didn’t like though really bothered me a lot. It wasn’t some of the really fru-fru new agey stuff. I can look past that. It’s the whitewashing of history, making them out as barely knowing what war was when that doesn’t even come close to matching what’s written in their own histories (I see this a lot with some of the new age stuff). But overall, if you’re curious about 2012, this would be a good book for you.
The Devil’s Eye by Jack McDevitt (cross reference, SF)
Okay, let me preface this with saying it’s the fourth in the series and I haven’t read the first three (Library doesn’t have them and neither did the book club). Often with mysteries though, that’s not entirely necessary. This started out as a good mystery, really it did. It suffered from having the blandest characters ever, like almost no character details exist. All I know is Alex Benedict (these are Alex Benedict mysteries even though it’s told first person from his female partner…) likes antiques (though you only see that twice in almost 500 pages) and Chase Kolpath, our narrator is a star pilot. Literally that’s about all you get in the way of character development.
Still, I would have rated this higher than I did if the thing didn’t fall apart mid-way. The last 150 pages were slow, dull and so unnecessarily drawn out. It starts out with Vicki Greene, a worlds famous horror writer sending Alex a cryptic message needing his help and that ‘my god, they’re all dead.’ When Alex and Chase look into it they find out Vicki has advanced him 2 million dollars and she has had her mind completely erased. Basically Vicki is dead and is someone totally new now.
Most people, including Chase, would have either taken the money and not bothered or returned the money to the family since the client is ‘dead.’ (And since I am coming in mid series I have NO idea why anyone would ask this sort of help from an antiquities dealer) Alex decides to investigate, leading him and Chase out to Salud Afar, the last place Vicki had been, a planet way out there with no stars in the sky but one. It’s a place known for its ghost stories, a natural for a horror writer.
As they follow in her footsteps, Chase and Alex honestly have no idea why the author was compelled to erase her existence. Finally, as they poke through the history behind the ghost stories, the answer reveals itself, ending up with Chase and Alex both captured by the government and in line for mind blocks of their own. Escaping, they do contact some other authorities with their findings…and that’s when you realize there’s over 150 pages left to go and the mystery is solved. You’re then in for politics for the remaining third of the book. I hate politics and to me this just fell apart here.
But it fell apart for reasons beyond the politics. I just don’t understand the whole motive of Vicki Greene. Without giving anything away, let’s put it this way, Alex and Chase get the solution underway with ONE call to the press. Um what? Everyone is lauding Vicki’s self sacrifice to bring this mystery to light but when you look at it, it makes no sense. There was no guarantee Alex would take the case in the first place. We’re not sure if the gov. took away vital parts of Vicki’s memory (but you assume they did but not enough to keep her from understanding something was bad and getting Alex involved) But honestly think of it this way. Greene is the J.K. Rowling of her day. Who would get the press and the people motivated to help more? Rowling or an antiques dealer (and for the love of pete, antiques never even come into this)? The whole plot hinges on the idea of someone like Rowling killing herself in hopes someone might notice and investigate what she wants them to investigate…uh…what? Instead of heroic sacrifice I saw stupidity in abundance. I don’t get the accolades for this one. It’s just not that good.
Nightschool: The Weirn Books #2 by Svetlana Chmakova
Determines to find out what happened to her sister, Alex Treveney tries to break into the night school where her sister was night keeper before she disappeared. Summarily caught and tossed out, Alex comes across two people she saw last book, a human girl and her vampire boyfriend. He gets Alex inside so she can investigate to no avail. She’s thrown back out but not before she meets up with another young woman and they sort of explode each other magically even though they don’t know why.
Alex ends up joining the school so she can investigate more thoroughly. It’s a big school and a little Harry Potterish with school plans that change nightly so maps are always needed. Alex winds up on the wrong side of the freshman teacher but ends up showing that she’s very advanced in some ways which will put her in with the mysterious Mr. Roi, who may or may not be a good guy.
Mixing with all of this, is the Hunter’s subplot. I’m still a bit hazy about them. If there is a night school, are the supernaturals okay in this universe and if so, then why hunters? Are they after all supernaturals or just the bad ones? It’s hard to tell. All the reader knows is that three of the hunters are in supernatural comas and the leader known as Teacher, is trying to save them. In the meantime, they’re also protecting a seer from the family she’s contracted to since she doesn’t want to be with them and that they weren’t protecting her mind (apparently seers go mad easily) and the whole volume ends up with a final page that makes it look like Teacher isn’t quite as human as the hunters think he is (or is it just dramatic artistry, can’t say yet). The story isn’t bad but it’s also not very original. I’m still waiting to see if the characters grow on me.
Okay I had to read at least one book about 2012 didn’t I? I figured why not read one by an actual Mayan priest since I know they certainly didn’t mean the end of the world like all the other idiots are running around screaming. This book really was a nice an introduction to current Mayan living, Mayan philosophy and history. No book on 2012 is complete without talking crystal skulls which this does and gives an idea what they might be for. I enjoyed Barrios narrative voice and the stories he chose to tell.
Naturally, the end of the world should be better stated as the end of this era with a new one following. The Mayan were (and are) very good mathematicians (and medically advanced for their ‘golden age’ back in the days before the conquistadors) and kept calendars of amazing accuracy running for thousands of years. They had some pretty impressive astronomical abilities as well. Speaking of the conquistadors, they are mentioned to and not in a nice way (big surprise)
The second half of the book is all about Mayan ‘astrology’ and how it affected them, apparently deeply. Pretty much you were expected to go in to whatever career whose sign you were born under (and that for me makes little plot bunnies breed in my head). It was difficult at first to wade through it then I sort of gave up since there was no way of figuring out how it related to our calendar until I flipped back to the rich appendices. (Really that should have been at the forefront of this not the end because really reading star sign after star sign gets dull). I’m T’zi, the dog. Apparently we’re all about law and order and spiritual growth. We’re great writers (yay) and better lovers (double yay) though we tend to end up alone (well I’m there now…). We’re doctors, lawyers, educators and mathematicians (Okay I’m a doctor, now an educator with a minor in math so…). My power places are mountains and beaches (two favorite places though I can’t just sit on a beach) And it includes people such as Steven Spielberg, J.K. Rowling, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and…uh, Hitler…
The one thing I didn’t like though really bothered me a lot. It wasn’t some of the really fru-fru new agey stuff. I can look past that. It’s the whitewashing of history, making them out as barely knowing what war was when that doesn’t even come close to matching what’s written in their own histories (I see this a lot with some of the new age stuff). But overall, if you’re curious about 2012, this would be a good book for you.
The Devil’s Eye by Jack McDevitt (cross reference, SF)
Okay, let me preface this with saying it’s the fourth in the series and I haven’t read the first three (Library doesn’t have them and neither did the book club). Often with mysteries though, that’s not entirely necessary. This started out as a good mystery, really it did. It suffered from having the blandest characters ever, like almost no character details exist. All I know is Alex Benedict (these are Alex Benedict mysteries even though it’s told first person from his female partner…) likes antiques (though you only see that twice in almost 500 pages) and Chase Kolpath, our narrator is a star pilot. Literally that’s about all you get in the way of character development.
Still, I would have rated this higher than I did if the thing didn’t fall apart mid-way. The last 150 pages were slow, dull and so unnecessarily drawn out. It starts out with Vicki Greene, a worlds famous horror writer sending Alex a cryptic message needing his help and that ‘my god, they’re all dead.’ When Alex and Chase look into it they find out Vicki has advanced him 2 million dollars and she has had her mind completely erased. Basically Vicki is dead and is someone totally new now.
Most people, including Chase, would have either taken the money and not bothered or returned the money to the family since the client is ‘dead.’ (And since I am coming in mid series I have NO idea why anyone would ask this sort of help from an antiquities dealer) Alex decides to investigate, leading him and Chase out to Salud Afar, the last place Vicki had been, a planet way out there with no stars in the sky but one. It’s a place known for its ghost stories, a natural for a horror writer.
As they follow in her footsteps, Chase and Alex honestly have no idea why the author was compelled to erase her existence. Finally, as they poke through the history behind the ghost stories, the answer reveals itself, ending up with Chase and Alex both captured by the government and in line for mind blocks of their own. Escaping, they do contact some other authorities with their findings…and that’s when you realize there’s over 150 pages left to go and the mystery is solved. You’re then in for politics for the remaining third of the book. I hate politics and to me this just fell apart here.
But it fell apart for reasons beyond the politics. I just don’t understand the whole motive of Vicki Greene. Without giving anything away, let’s put it this way, Alex and Chase get the solution underway with ONE call to the press. Um what? Everyone is lauding Vicki’s self sacrifice to bring this mystery to light but when you look at it, it makes no sense. There was no guarantee Alex would take the case in the first place. We’re not sure if the gov. took away vital parts of Vicki’s memory (but you assume they did but not enough to keep her from understanding something was bad and getting Alex involved) But honestly think of it this way. Greene is the J.K. Rowling of her day. Who would get the press and the people motivated to help more? Rowling or an antiques dealer (and for the love of pete, antiques never even come into this)? The whole plot hinges on the idea of someone like Rowling killing herself in hopes someone might notice and investigate what she wants them to investigate…uh…what? Instead of heroic sacrifice I saw stupidity in abundance. I don’t get the accolades for this one. It’s just not that good.
Nightschool: The Weirn Books #2 by Svetlana Chmakova
Determines to find out what happened to her sister, Alex Treveney tries to break into the night school where her sister was night keeper before she disappeared. Summarily caught and tossed out, Alex comes across two people she saw last book, a human girl and her vampire boyfriend. He gets Alex inside so she can investigate to no avail. She’s thrown back out but not before she meets up with another young woman and they sort of explode each other magically even though they don’t know why.
Alex ends up joining the school so she can investigate more thoroughly. It’s a big school and a little Harry Potterish with school plans that change nightly so maps are always needed. Alex winds up on the wrong side of the freshman teacher but ends up showing that she’s very advanced in some ways which will put her in with the mysterious Mr. Roi, who may or may not be a good guy.
Mixing with all of this, is the Hunter’s subplot. I’m still a bit hazy about them. If there is a night school, are the supernaturals okay in this universe and if so, then why hunters? Are they after all supernaturals or just the bad ones? It’s hard to tell. All the reader knows is that three of the hunters are in supernatural comas and the leader known as Teacher, is trying to save them. In the meantime, they’re also protecting a seer from the family she’s contracted to since she doesn’t want to be with them and that they weren’t protecting her mind (apparently seers go mad easily) and the whole volume ends up with a final page that makes it look like Teacher isn’t quite as human as the hunters think he is (or is it just dramatic artistry, can’t say yet). The story isn’t bad but it’s also not very original. I’m still waiting to see if the characters grow on me.