meganbmoore | reading update (Reply)

Knights of Dark Renown by David Gemmell: Relatively standard Gemmell: mixture of idealistic young heroes, weary older heroes and a reluctant one somewhere in between who ends up being the one history remembers. Here, the world's nine greatest heroes went into a gateway and never returned...except for one, whose instincts told him that going would be a big mistake, so he stayed behind. Several years later the formerly noble and just king has become corrupt and is served by eight seemingly immortal knights, and the one who stayed behind forms a new order of knights from very unlikely heroes to stop them. Very good book all told, though not of a par with Legend, Waylander, Quest for Lost Heroes or the Rigante books.

Night Pleasures by Sherrilyn Kenyon: First of all, I admire the audacity of an author who, in the first 30 pages, has the heroine reading a book she)the author) wrote for another company under a different name. Beyond that? I like the setup, and anything involving Greek mythology(that isn't stupid) gets a thumbs up from me, but really, this book is so...prosey...and honestly, the writer and heroine both spend so much time going "oh you poor woobie...what a terrible, angst-ridden life you've led...and oh, you're so hot..." that I really feel no compulsion to join in(making the supporting cast more interesting than the main characters) Actually, the writer being too in love with her creation's pain and angst(and thus basically being in love with him and kinda making him dull as a result) is way too common in romance novels, especially this kind. That said, bad as it was at times, this book was really just absurdly fun...I think it's dangermousie's evil influence.

X-Factor Vol 2: Life and Death Matters by Peter David and various artists: You know, it's about time a hero was told of a loved one's death and just went "Oh, it's not real. He'll pop up in a year or so with some wild story. It's all good." And hey I don't really remember a body...I'm sure he'll be back eventually (for goodness sake, they've brought back Bucky, Jason Todd and Captain Mar-Vell...NO ONE stays dead now...Sean'll be back in a decade or so, even if there's a story between now and then where they exhume his remains and confirm it's him, he'll be back) The idea of the changelings was interesting, but there's a big flaw with how it was presented. The way Tryp described it, it's a 2-3 in a generation type thing...except there are mutants like Nightcrawler, Artie, Leach, a ton of the Morlocks, etc...mutants who were born obviously different(much like the mythical changelings were, depending on which tradition you follow) or even Franklin Richards(though I could be wrong about him, as I don't know a lot of his story outside of Generation X, Onslaught and scattered appearances) That's without even thinking about it, just what popped into my head during Tryp's lecture...I'm sure there are plenty more. But, anyway, it seems to somewhat contradict the Changeling's explanation, interesting as it is, but unlike most Marvel writers these days, PAD tries to actually be aware of such things, so I have faith. All that said, that drunk night is going to seriously come back and bite Jamie on the butt...or rather, result in Monet ripping his head off right after Terry makes his eardrums explode. And I remain amazed that Layla Miller, the most useless deus ex machina ever(of most were barely even aware existed despite claims she'd be Marvel's most talked about character after House of M(anure)) is actually rather fun and interesting here.

Justice Vol 2 by Jim Krueger, Alex Ross and Doug Braithwaite: I'm honestly not sure about this one. It's not QUITE to the point of being solid padding, but it's not far enough from it to escape accusation, either. There are interesting character moments(that I really don't care for Ralph being whiny and jealous about Plastic Man...I guess partly because I love Ralph and not only couldn't care less about Plastic Man, but don't really get why he's so popular anyway) but not a whole lot of actual plot points and progression. Basically, like most mini/maxi series this century, it could have been a few issues shorter and had a much tighter plot as a result. But I'm sure most readers are too busy ooo-ing and aaah-ing the art(and at least it's more deserving of such than most) to notice or care. We'll see how it all wraps up in vol 3.

PS: I've started the second Dark Hunter(the Kenyon series) book, and the grandson(and dead ringer) of the man who murdered the hero before he became a Dark Hunter(who, naturally is also a Dark Hunter) is his replacement because he was made mortal again by the power of twoo wuv(with some help) and I can't help but imagine a conversation like this(as they apparently hate each other's guts)

Kyrian(said hero): ROMAN PIG! Your grandfather murdered me and destroyed my family!
Valerius(said grandson): Oh get over it Spartan. Besides, GRANDFATHER, not me. Quit whining. Besides, you're mortal now, it's my turn to angst. *angsts*

Kyrian: And stole my city and seduced my wife. Really, I don't know why I haven't killed you yet.
Valerius: Dude, you came back to life and got your revenge...get over it. You know what? I'm tired of this and you're mortal now. *kills*

Rest of cast: Ok, so, you just murdered the husband of a sorceress...we'll just head for another time zone now...

Ok, so apparently A) This no-internet thing at work results in a little too much boredom and B) Kyrian and his angstangstangst started annoying me at some point. And no, I haven't even MET Valerius yet.

PS 2: dangermousie, they're just talking about Zarek and I see what you mean. And...awww..Nick...I do like Nick...ooo...now Zarek showed up...his description kinda makes me laigh...change the clothes and it'd be perfect for your standard evil murderous fantasy/medieval villain. And he needs to stop terrorizing Nick...