I think I jinxed it.. Damnit!!! *sigh* Oh well..... I guess now I will have to go on and pretend like it never happened. Not that everything will return to how it was but it will to a certain extent.

Comment! (5) | Recommend!

I am here to do justice for this trilogy after my review of the first book, The Magicians' Guild. The two other books, The Novice and The High Lord, paints a rather different picture from the first book. Why did the author start off with a book that most likely will turn away anyone who'd buy the first book out of curiousity, I don't know. However, I would say that the first book would make an interesting movie

The Novice, is quite interesting, I finished the book in 24 hours. Not to let the speed of my reading paint a picture of a really good book, I had nothing other to do than to read. Nonetheless, the book is much more interesting than the first because the story does not only focus on one character but a few other characters. There is one dull part in the middle of the book but it contains more magic, scandals and surprises for readers. It also gave some insight to a reclusive and mysterious character of the Guild's High Lord, Akkarin, which arouses quite some emotions. I did some predictions in this book and I was quite amused having it come true.

Lastly, The High Lord, well the title says it all. It revolves around the High Lord, Sonea (the beggar girl) and the rules of the Guild. This one, I really had to force myself to put it down when I feel like the part is the beginning to another surprise so that I could catch some sleep. I really cannot say much about this book because I don't want to spoil anyone just in case you'd be interested in reading. All I have to say is I didn't have to play the guessing game to keep me reading.

Overall, the trilogy is an interesting read and I can't believe I finished the books that I thought would've lasted me two weeks in a week. If you're looking for something akin to Harry Potter, you will find it in these two books.

Now I have to find something else to keep me occupied till I return to where my heart is.

Comment! (6) | Recommend! | Categories: books [t]

The Black Magician Trilogy is by Trudi Canavan and I just finished reading the first book, The Magicians' Guild.

I'm reading this trilogy now because I am on holiday and because my classmate loaned me these books long enough, I decided to finish reading and return them to him at the start of my last semester of my degree.

This book is about a beggar girl who have found magical powers and three-quarters of the book is about her flee from the grasps of the Magician Guild because she believes all magicians to be bad people and they intend to kill her. Magicians and magic was thought to be something for the aristocrats, as all magicians are members of the Houses, as never has anyone from the slums show any indication of having magical powers nor have any existing magicians went looking for signs of latent magical power. The Guild is looking for her because if she is left unchecked, her powers will become uncontrollable and she possess as a great threat towards to city and the lives of people living around her and the King does not want anyone with magical power being outside the power of the Guild.

The Purge is an event whereby beggars are being driven out of the city every winter and having to survive through winter without or little food and shelter. At times, the Purge takes place with the help of Magicians who builds invisible barriers that keep the Guards safe from acts of protests from the beggar youths.

She was, of course, taken into custody by the Magicians' Guild and taught how to control her power and how a Magician tried to gain her trust to change her view about the Guild and magicians in general. The book ended with the introduction of an issue or cause that will be present throughout the trilogy.

The book is a little draggy... in the middle.It failed to build the excitement to keep readers unable to put the book down. The ending isn't particularly exciting either, like The Horus Heresy series where you absolutely get hooked at the end even if it puts you to sleep somewhere in the middle.

Those who love reading Harry Potter might be a little disappointed with this book because it doesn't focus much on magic but there is just enough to satisfy the crave. I would recommend this book to those who likes to read books about friendship, forming bonds and deception with cool sips of magic every now and then. Then again, what books are not about the bonds from one person with another and finding oneself?

I will finish the trilogy and give a review as a whole.. Maybe it'd be better...

Comment! (3) | Recommend! | Categories: books [t]

Remember Natalie>?

I just bought a new laptop and I am very tempted to name it "Natalie" and also everything else that needs a name, like my phone so that I can catch others off-guard and make a joke out of it. Like when they want to send a file over through bluetooth:

Half-paying attention friend: Which one of these bluetooth connections am I going to send it to?
Me: Natalie
Half-paying attention friend: Huh??

Okay.. it sounds funnier in my head. I think the prankster in me is a little unsettled since April's Fool is around the corner and I have no one to pull a prank on.

Comment! (1) | Recommend!

So today I'm a pissed at this friend over one simple thing - how he handled my book. Well, the book isn't mine, it was borrowed but still, I don't like the way he handled it.

I have this book that I'm reading that looks brand new and it is wrapped. So this friend of mine, came up to me and said "which installment are you in right now?", picked up the book and tried to pronounce the title. Then, he opened the book so wide just to look at it for 5 seconds and proceeded to tell me that he doesn't read these kinds of books because he cannot imagine it. He would read it if it is fantasy but because it is sci-fi, he doesn't. His act of opening the book for 5 seconds, left a line on the ribs.

Here is why I am pissed:
This is not my book. Even if it is my book, I don't like the fact that you're ruining the aesthetics of the book. The book is wrapped and I borrowed it from someone. The fact that it looks brand new, wrapped and loaned tells you a lot about how the owner would like to preserve the books' aesthetics. It is also not like the owner loaned them to be without reading it first, he did. Also, it is not that this friend of mine doesn't know that the book is borrowed, he knows because I told him that my friend just passed it to me. It is also not the fact that he doesn't know what type of book it is, he asked me 3 weeks ago when I started reading the first book.

You don't need to remind me why you don't read these books, I don't care because I don't want to ask that friend to loan them to you anyway. I don't plan to tell you about it anyway. I'm reading it for my own pleasure and I'm not talking you into reading it. Albeit the owner of these books told me that as long as I don't trash the books, he doesn't mind but I mind. When I borrow things, I like to return them in the condition that I was given to, I respect my books because they are my constant companions and teacher. I also like to keep things looking new because honestly, who doesn't like new things? I don't open the book wider just to read the few hidden words, I adjust my angle so that the light can shine on it. There is no need to cause any damage to a perfectly nice book. I don't care how you handle your books, I don't care how you treat your books but I care how you treat my books, even when the ownership is temporary.

Do you know that you can get to know a person from the way they treat simple things like books? A book wrapped and still in a mint condition despite being read before tells you that the person cherishes the book thus when you have it on loan, you should learn to cherish it too. It's like how that person will cherish his partner. Anything that is his will be treated with care and love so you should treat them just the same. Just because you temporarily own it doesn't mean that you can treat it the way you treat your own items. I wonder if he will get pissed if he precious guitar gets treated that way. Oh wait... he won't borrow his guitar to anyone. He's that kind of a person.

P/s: Just in case there is a confusion. My friend is a guy and the owner of the book is a guy too.

Comment! (4) | Recommend!

I have just finished the first three books in this series (which according to my source, has 13 books and is still an ongoing series) and I just got 5 more. The first 4 books is a continuation of one another while the rest are stand alone stories, a more elaborate story to the parts in the first four.

I'm not quite a fan of Sci-fi books but this series is different. I don't know what's so different about it from the rest (okay, I don't really read sci-fi books because Sci-fi movies that I've watched are boring). I think Dan Brown's attempt in sci-fi/romance totally killed whatever left of the sci-fi geek in me but this sci-fi/fantasy series totally appeals to me.

This series is a story of war, brotherhood, betrayal, ideals and faith. Some parts are a little religious but it doesn't touch on the existing religions in the world, its more of the concept of religion. It doesn't seek to eradicate whatever religious seed that you have in yourself, it only strengthen whatever faith that you have.

The plot can be a little slow at some points but towards the end I can't stop reading until I finish the book.There are a few authors working on this series, which gives us a variety of narration styles so that you don't get bored of the say way of writing since this series is pretty long.

I'll update after I've done more reading on this series but so far, this series is good.

Comment! (1) | Recommend! | Categories: books [t]