Thirst (The Last Vampire, Black Blood, and Red Dice -oh my!)

Well, another vampire book it is. *cracks knuckles and repositions self in rolly chair*

I must say that Christopher Pike has exceptional talent for writing vampire stories with twists. Yes, it is somewhat far fetched, and yes -I *have* looked up the ending to the next compilation of this series on wikipedia and despise the ending. But this matters not.

Thirst is a series written in the 90's but republished/printed due to the vamp hype cycling back around. Twihards and Draculovers alike will find this a page turner like few others. 'Thirst #1' contains the first three books in the 'Last Vampire' series. In it we find Sita, a 5,000yr old vamp, and an unknown enemy. Action galore awaits you, my friend, if you can get past the occasional weirdness thrown in. It's hard to define, but some words, or trains of thought, don't seem to fit. Oh well, moving on.

Sita enrolls in high school to meet Ray, the son-of-a-*detective* who has just been orphaned...but doesn't know it yet. While this does complicate matters slightly, Sita meets Seymour (who is dying of HIV from a blood transfusion) in archery class and finds him special. He dreams about what happens to her, and has a semi-psychic link to her. This book has it's own 'debunking old vampire myths' segment, which I will spare you, but needless to say : NO ONE SPARKLES. Which is good enough for me.

Also, confusingly, these 'immortal' evils can be killed with a bullet to the head or decapitation.....so what happened to being immortal again? That would suck to find out accidentally.
"Psh,  go ahead and shoot dude. I'm a vampire, I'm *immortal*. I don't die from a stupid bullet like you silly humans."
Bang. Pause. Confused look, *plop*.
"Oh thank god Thelma, I thought that psycho was gunna violate us or something, getting his spit all over my neck. Disgusting. I sure am glad I keep that rifle under the seat even though you said it would get me arrested one day."
"Well Earl, I wasn't exactly considering the possibility of -WAIT, IT TWITCHED! Shoot it again!- (bang, bang) *sighs*. I just didn't think a crazy convict or something was going to attack you any time soon..."

(Links provided for background info and the like)
Sita falls in love with Ray because she can see Krishna in him. When she was still young apparently she met Krishna when Yaksha challenged him to a duel and they sat in a snake pit while playing the flute. This story takes quite a bit from legends and mythical creatures (as well as historical religions), and has a narrative style similar to 'The Gargoyle', which switches effortlessly from past and present in it's story telling segments. If you have a bee in your bonnet about reincarnation, and other religious themes, then you might not appreciate their frequent mentions, but you were forewarned.

Ray is easily persuaded to be the boytoy lover for vampire Sita, but is eventually turned later when Yaksha and Sita have their 'lets die then, shall we?' show down. Lots of fun things happen, Yaksha is supposedly killed, and Ray becomes a vamp too. He is unhappy though, because he really doesn't enjoy killing people or drinking their blood. Dude, your a vampire now, get over yourself.

Book two enters about here with a new challenge: Eddie. So Eddie works at a morgue and steals Yaksha's body, which is not totally dead for some strange reason. He turns himself into a vamp and takes lots of power from Yaksha, then starts making a whole bunch of little baby vampires. They kill lots of people, Sita and Ray eventually both come and fight him. Sita meets the FBI guy, Joel, and he saves her from getting killed in the explosion that kills Ray and should have killed Eddie. Ed has a weird pervy mom, Sita kills Eddie, Joel gets turned into a vampire because he almost dies, and Sita gets yet another problem. Government! Wait, why no cheering? You think the government overreacts too!? Wow, imagine that...

Simply because the last book had way too many twists for normal people with ADHD to think of, I will leave that to your imagination.

At first I thought this was a little retarded. Whoop, whoop, a vampire. Wow, she drinks blood. She thinks she's bada**? Congrats, so does Rambo. Blond? Why not sign up for Miss America now and save yourself the trouble? But oh how my words only half haunt me. I still think this is too dramay for its own good, but I still really like the constant "Bond, James Bond" feel for action and adventure this has. Sure, it might dwell a little on the whole "I'm a vamp and I'm really strong and I kill people." bit, but hey, its worth sticking around to see the ending. I love Seymour, God bless him, but the ending I read about makes me want to punch him in the face....if he existed that is. Anywho, please don't go read the ending ahead of time, like muah (French people glare at me while sharpening the utensils they eat snails with...), because I'm probably going to go ahead and track down the second half of these things to read.

ENDING POINTS:
+ Action.
+NO SPARKLES!!!!! and pretty original/not-but-better-than-twilight abilities
+ The randomness of His stories and plot twists
+ Realistic feelings from Sita, if not from other characters (but even Sita annoys me at the end of this book)
- ohmigead how often do I have to hear people talking about how cool they are when they can wear leather, have blond hair, and never age while carrying trunkloads of ammo in their pockets?
- Why turn Joel? I don't get it.....
- Dear lord please don't do it!!!!! (For context please read the last three pages of Red Dice)
- Why did you do it? (Just read the last two pages then...fine....)

Brave New World - Got Soma?

Alrighty. I had to read this for British Lit class, but found it to be less horrific than previously thought. In other words -I renounce all speeches made about dreading this book. There. I said it. I was wrong. This book doesn't suck, and it wasn't 500 pages long. Sorry.

Now that *that's* over with we'll get down to the story. Bernard, Lenina, and John, comprise the main characters of this dystopian tale. Linda, Mond, and Helmholtz also play important parts. Bernard is an under-qualified Alpha who works in the 'Sleep Teaching' department. (Technically they have a really long name for that but I enjoy the simple version...) He hates society because he isn't accepted, mostly for his lacking appearance, and enjoys trying to briefly corrupt Lenina. Lenina has a pull toward close relationships -a big 'no no' in modern civilization, but tries to stay morally right by making herself be with other men.

Bernard gets a date with Lenina when she goes on another 'Man Spurt' and they visit the Indian/Savage reservation. While there they see a painful and disturbing ritual where a boy walks around a pile of snakes while getting whipped. Like butter! : D Just not as tasty I imagine... Lenina is grossed out by this and desperately wants soma to knock her out and help forget everything she just saw. Bernard finds it fascinating, but I doubt he would ever let someone whip him. Maybe someday we'll find out, or maybe not, I don't really care. The main reason for seeing this is to establish JOHN! yay, whoop, holla, YEah, Gig em, Go John, etc, etc, etc. He wishes he could have done the ceremony, and boasts that he could have bled twice as much as that boy before stopping. o.O

So we now hear the story of John, more or less. Linda, the woman our D.H.C mentioned earlier (who got lost on a trip here and was consequently left behind) accidentally got pregnant while taking birth control and raised John on her own. She stayed true to city morals and slept around with the other men...*married* men. No surprise then when we hear about a group of women coming in and beating Linda and John while telling them to stay away from the rest of the village. I don't think they appreciated her freeness. Some people just don't understand good manners -always KNOCK before coming in to beat someone senseless! *sigh* What is this world coming to in the far future?

Bernard sees how high John hold the 'Brave New World' of the city, and takes both him and Linda back with him. Lenina, outraged at the horror of being around savage people so long, takes enough soma to kill a poodle, and lies in bed for a day or two till they leave. John looks through her apartment before realizing she was sleeping there, but resists the urge to rape the sleeping girl. Wow. What marvelous self control he has. wow......so....now that I established that both Lenina and John like each other (one only if the other is sleeping?) we can move on. Bernard is about to get fired, and basically *does* get fired in front of the entire office, but brings out his new friends. John is the Director's son, which makes him so ashamed he quits and Bernard is left very popular and suddenly in charge of a hot commodity. Both Lenina and John enjoy their coolness boost, but all is lost when John refuses to see anyone after feeling like this city was corrupt.

Its either before or after John locks himself away, but he and Lenina go to the 'feelies', which are movies that make you feel what the actors are feeling, as in they kiss each other and you feel it. Creepy, huh? But in a society that pushes (on pain of banishment) promiscuity and drug use, while banning love and personal feeling, this isn't really looked at as gross or even immoral. John uses Shakespeare as his moral compass in this 'Brave New World with such people in it'. He calls Lenina a strumpet, whore, and god only knows what else, multiple times and occasionally hits her to stop her seduction scenes. Lenina and John *do* like each other, but after that movie/feelie he is repulsed by civilization and it's values. He meets with Mond, his 'fordship', and has a long debate about the reasons behind this new society. He argues for his Shakespearean values, while Mond both agrees and disputes with him. Its a very amusing scene when this all happens.

Linda dies somewhere around chapter 15, and John almost deconditions some lower class children being trained to ignore death. He is outraged at their flippant attitude and upsets the poor nurse on duty, who then has to resort to giving the children chocolate eclaires to distract them. I don't think the kids minded that much.

Just to clarify - Soma is a mind altering drug. I guess it would be similar to weed? Perhaps marijuana mixed with valium....hmmmmmmm. They take it when life annoys them, or gives them any bad feeling, to stay happy. Because life is all about staying happy. 'A gramme is better than a damn!' is a commonly repeated phrase in this book. Poor brainwashed, conditioned, lovestruck Lenina. I don't even know *how* many times she says this to angry people, but no one ever listens, in fact she seems to anger them more. Oh well.

John finally gets so mad he tries to 'free' the lower classes by taking away soma. He wants them to see the awesome injustice done to them, but their conditioning renders this technique useless. John and Helmholtz (Bernard's friend who is too intelligent for his own good)fend off the riotous mob, while Bernard tries to run away after the police get there. All three are taken to Mond, where they are told they must leave (but John is still asked to stay unless he really wanted to go). Bernard goes hysterical and cries, pleading with Mond, and getting dragged out of the room by security guards. Helmholtz listens to Mond's story and is excited to meet the other people who are banished to far off islands. He decides to go somewhere with bad weather for the extra creativity that will surely be added to his stories. : )

John and Mond then have their big debate, slapping around Shakespeare like its gravy for the Turkey across the table. But John leaves and stays in an abandoned building outside the city. Of course, since it has a beautiful view John has to 'punish' himself before he can accept living here. He drinks mustard mixed with warm water then throws up. Joy. *shudders and wipes John's vomit off my shoes*

Eventually people find him and surround him with helicopters, chanting "We want the Whip!" because a nosy reporter filmed him from behind some plants as he whipped himself one day. John tries to run away but is stopped and sees Lenina in the crowd. He takes his whip and hits her, then ironically (hypocritically?) joins in their big 'end of the crazy ceremony' orgy. Said orgy is also a staple in civil life....yeah.....

The next morning he wakes up. I assume he realizes only *after* seeing a whole bunch of naked people on his lawn that he took part in an orgy the night before. But nonetheless he feels so ashamed that he goes inside and kills himself. Whether he does this because he longer feels worthy of life, or whether that was the only punishment he saw that could redeem him, he still dies. Reporters see his feet dangling above their heads and the book ends.

Let me just say again that this book was not at all what I expected. And reading it reminds me of our society today, constantly trying to make everything casual, and take meaning away from long term relationships. The fact that sex is so everyday, and encouraged at such young ages (you'll see in the book) is absurd, but rapidly becoming more plausible. While I cannot rationally say our world would ever end up like a fictitious work of art, it does touch home in its comparison between past and future moral views.

ENDING POINTS:
+ better than I expected
+ makes me wish such drugs as 'soma' were legal....and existed
+ everyone but John is easily understood.
- I'm still confused as to John's reasoning and lack of individual thought. I mean, if he's so unique, then why couldn't he adapt his own interpretation of life instead of relying on other people to tell him what's good and bad? In a book that's about John's stand against conforming to any one society, he is rigidly attached to Shakespeare's morals, and those are only morals made clear through plays and characters.
+ Love Mond's debate with John
+ Love the sad ending

Pet Sematary - My favorite Sematary Yet!

Before I forget to do this, like I have with one or two other books...it'll get done eventually...I introduce you to my all time favorite Stephen King Movie/Book. With this one, I must admit, the book and movie are on the same level of awesomeness. Neither really changes vital facts (except one that kind of annoyed me), but I *do* love the movie's take on the last scene. (as I cannot find a good youtube vid of the last scene I guess you'll just have to watch it all : ) it might be good for you to get the old heart pumping a little bit) One thing it took a little to get used to was the whole 'wrong spelling' of cemetery, because I kept trying -and failing- to look it up, until I *finally* realized I was spelling it a different way. All those wasted minutes...oh well.

Pet Sematary opens (WARNING: book does include some snippets of sexual stuff between Louis and Rachel, and cussing, but nothing too bad) with Louis moving his family to a new house for his new job. They meet the neighborly neighbors, Jud and his wife (whose name I forget at the moment), and something I guess was implied in the movie is made a little clearer. Jud is like the dad Louis never had, so just know there's a strong connection there. Rachel is kind of manupulative, but hey, what else are wives there for? Just kidding. *looks nervously over shoulder*

It is established that the road (path, whatever) leaving their back yard goes to the pet sematary, and Jud plans on taking them there sometime that week. Louis' little girl has a cat, Winston Churchhill -Church for short. Jud says, in true Yankee form, that 'that there rud has killed many a pet' (please use an accent when repeating that to yourself) and later suggests they get Church neutered for his safety. Gage, their littlest kid, is packed on daddy's back for their 2 or 3 mile hike to the sematary. Apparently the graves are in concentric circles (think: spirals/little circles encasing each other) which try to mimic the Mic Mac Indian Burial grounds we have yet to be introduced to. This visit leads to Ellie (their daughter) having a little breakdown about being scared Church is going to be lunch for vultures after being splattered across the road. Rachel, who has a traumatic past with death, gets really mad and has a big fight with Louis.

What is it about Indians and their burial grounds? Pet Sematary, Poltergeist? What makes those places so 'spooky' and easily haunted? That's never quite made sense to me. But, moving on...

So Louis starts his job at the college, and eventually the true action starts when a kid is brought in after getting hit by a car. His brain is almost falling out of a hole in his skull (love the movie for this) and after he dies and is alone with Louis he turns his head and talks to him. "A man's heart is stonier, Louis." referring to the burial ground, and something about 'a man grows what he can...and tends to it'. But I still don't know what that one means in the context of this book. Louis is pretty freaked out by this, but goes home and dreams about the dead dude coming and making him go to the grave yard. After realizing this couldn't possibly be a dream Louis freaks out even *more* (wimp) and collapses on the ground a fit of hysteria. He wakes up in bed, at home, and sighs happily while hoping that never happens again. As he gets out of bed he sees his feet covered in mud, and anxiously hides the sheets in the laundry shoot before Rachel sees the mud stains. (Oh no! My dream was real! or maybe I just sleep walk?)

Louis sends off his family for Thanksgiving, and does not follow because of tension between him and Rachel's father. There was some big thing and both hate each other...blah blah blah...yada yada yada...not a happy family reunion. So he stays and hangs out with Jud and his wife a lot.
Ring, ring, ring.
Hello?
Hey Louis, I think your cat is dead on my lawn...mind taking care of this so I don't get infected with whatever diseases it might have? OK, thanks, btw bring your own garbage bag. See ya.

So Louis identifies his cat and chats with Jud about what to do. Jud decides to help him because he would hate to see Ellie lose her cat so early in life. He takes Jud beyond the sematary and through the swampy thing, over the wood stuff, and finally up a stone wall. They reach the burial grounds and Jud smokes while handing Louis the pick and shovel. *have fun there buddy*.

Late that night/early that morning Louis gets back and lies through a phone call from Ellie and Rachel. So far, so good. A day or two later *BAM* Church is back, graceless, and stinky. Yay : |  After being thoroughly scared to death by his own kittie he runs over to Jud and asks what happened. Of course Jud isn't home, but it all gets asked in good time. Rachel, Ellie, and Gage return and after some pages/chapters, we find no one likes Church anymore. Poor cat. Brought back from the dead just to be kicked around and shoved outside. I would be upset too! I mean, at least give the thing a treat or something!?!

Later, Gage helps daddy fly a kite while the fam watches, but he gets away while Louis is distracted and (after creating a whole chase scene) gets hit by a truck. Fun times, eh? So everybody's messed up, Rachel is sedated, and Louis is fairly catatonic by this point. They have the funeral, the father-in-law proves to be a bigger jerk then previously thought, and everything gets a little bit worse. Louis decides unconsciously, or so we believe, to revive Gage with the Indian Boogie Lands (Tm), and Jud still tries to convince him not to. Louis easily convinces Ellie and Rachel to visit the in-laws, but both see he's hiding something. Ellie has more creepy dreams about people dying -good stuff all around.

Louis keeps trying to talk himself out of doing this, but consequently talks himself back into it seconds later. We read on as he flings himself into a tree and maneuvers over the huge fence surrounding the cemetery, then sprains his ankle. Bad sign? I think so. He gets his stuff (pick and shovel) and finds the grave. Dig, dig, dig, dig, hours later, dig, dig, dig, clunk. He purposely, and to Jud's suspicious knowledge, got an easily removable grave covering to be buried around the casket. He finally braves to open the thing after beating the lock to death (and beyond...) with his shovel. Apparently he simplifies his thoughts with a "They did the best they could" and gathers the increasingly limp body of Gage, then fumbles his crazy way back out of the cemetery. Somehow I doubt many would think Louis 'sane' at this point, but we do see some sparks of normal thought, but these come only in intervals and are quickly squashed by the driving force of the book.

He wrapped Gage, or whats left of him anyway, into a bag and shoves it in his car when no one is in the street. He drives past the house ( I assume) but Jud, who was keeping watch, has been put to sleep by the Indian Boogie Land Monster (Tm). Louis carries Gage to the burial lands, after meeting some interesting forest friends, and buries him. After limping home stiff and tired, Louis passes out on the bed with his doctor bag on the floor. Incidentally Gage comes back that same night and takes a scalpel from said bag.

Evil Baby (Tm?), accompanied by Evil Kittay -stench not included, sold separately, along with stage blood- go over to Jud's house and eventually kill him. Poor Jud. So Jud lies there half bitten, half stabbed, to death, and Rachel has enough creepy happenings in Chicago to decide to come home and check on Louis. Needless to say, she arrives after Jud is dead, but soon enough to meet Evil Baby and Evil Kittay in all their stinky glory. Presumably splattered in blood and slightly dead looking, Evil Baby stabs Mum to death and turns to Father for more 'play time'. Dad is awake by this point and notices a strange car outside Jud's house (The rental car Rachel used to get there) and checks the house after seeing muddy footprints. Eerily the phone rings, followed by what I imagine to be ghostly horror movie music, and it's Rachel's Pappy making sure she got there all right.

"Is Rachel there?"
"What?" looks at other car. "Umm, sure, she's here."
"Good. Put her on the phone, Ellie thinks she's dead."
Pause.
"She had a dream that Rachel was dead, put her on the phone!"
"Yeah, ummmm, I'm gunna have to go....."
Click.

Action music ensues as Louis rushes across the street with crazed eyes and what I like to call "psycho people" drool on his face. (Drool added for effect) OH NO! Where is Jud, and Rachel? I *knew* they were having an affair! Wait, why is a baby laughing? They brought Gage along to watch! How horrible! Wait! WHY IS THERE BLOOD!?!?! NOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooo.....

Anywho, Louis runs around with syringes full of morphine (if I remember correctly) and hopes Gage will come to him so he can kill him. What a touching reunion. -Gageypoo? Come here, daddy has a surprise for you! Come on gageypoo, come here! Daddy's little dead boy needs to come here and get his surprise...- Gage does come, but only after Louis sees Jud and Rachel in various states of deadness. Oh the sorrow, oh the regret! Or not. He kills Gage after being stabbed a couple of times (and in the movie bitten) then sets the house on fire and drags Rachel to the burial ground.

Louis sits alone in his kitchen, muddy and bleeding from multiple stab wounds, when the quite dead looking Rachel opens the door. The tragic part, also the part that I love, is how happy Louis looks. He genuinely thinks everything will be ok when someone who technically looks like a zombie with half a face walks in and starts kissing him. While kissing said alive husband, Zombie Wife picks up a knife off the kitchen table. NO! is heard as the credits start to role.

Brilliant.
I love it.
Best Stephen King....EVER!

: )    ^_^    : D    ^,_,^

ENDING POINTS:
+ Story, while long, held suspense all the way through.
+ GOD I LOVE THE ENDING!!!!!
-  I hate how mean they are to Church, Hey, it's not *his* fault you made him come back like that!
-  Does have a few questionable scenes, but they're short.
+ Love the connection between Jud and Louis
+ Love how we see Louis thinking before/during his cemetery run.
+ Laughed out loud after trying to talk like Jud : )
- In the movie Jud has no wife...but in the book she was fairly important...oh well

A (self-written) Poem, I kind of ran out of books...

Where the Sunlight Seeks the Star -

Where the sparkling silver sunlight seeks the midnight star
there is a place where no one ever ventures very far
the hopes and dreams of yesteryear alive and come to play

and crimson dust from fairy tales falls smoother than the spray
of little magic waterfalls that captivate the eye
with pictures sweet and sour on which you can rely

That sparkling silver sunlight and vivid waterfall
reflect the deepest wishes that in our hearts do call
they show us fears and happy times that might just lie ahead
screams and smiles, one and all, both happiness and dread
for every drop of silver magic falling from its place
a memory of life before that second now erased

The trails of tales lie there like a twisted crimson snake
beckoning to the wanderer with each glinting blood red flake
circle after circle, if you follow, will you go
entangled in the promise of a new and different show
the sirens call 'Adventure!' and the lonely always flock
and from inside the crimson flakes the sirens count their stock

The journey to this place is strange and almost like a dream

with boats made out of flowers and a pixie rowing team
crocodiles float beneath the water's icy edge
and face seem to stare at you and whisper low a pledge

if only you could hear the things they try to say to you
maybe then you would know that they were once you too

There is no exit from this world of fairy tales and fear
only little voices all still talking in your ear
years will pass and you may find a shred of hope still there
it won't be long till all you do is sit around and stare
then you move to sit down at the bottom of the lake
and watch the new recruits arrive, deaf to pleas you make

Blood Promise (Vampire Academy Book #4) - Yay! A modern title : )

Ok. I personally *love* Richelle Mead's VA series. It's so much amazingly better than, say, Twilight, or most other vamp stories, for one big reason -This story has action. Sword fights, beheadings, true love, rebellion, magical powers that don't suck (or say "I'm totally gay. Watch me sparkle and be amazed!"), staking, death, etc. etc. etc.

Technically this *is* book four, so I can't spill too many beans here or the story is basically ruined, but oh well. VA (Vampire Academy) follows Rose, a guardian, who is 'half' vampire. She is shadow kissed (awesome right?) which basically means she died and her friend brought her back. That is soooo much better than sparkling, am I right? If all my friends could heal me I would probably hurt myself much more though, so maybe it's good that they all content themselves to get roll-on body glitter and stay out of the sun : ) Sorry, can't let that one go...

Rose's friend Lisa, also called Vasilisa, but that's too freaky for everyday conversation, is a 'real' vampire. There are three kinds is this series: Moroi (good [not evil in most ways] vampires), Strigoi (evil, dead, murdering, awesome vampires), and Dhampirs (the half-breeds who become guardians because of their strength). They kind of had a falling out, but I'll expalin that in a second, so half of the story is about Rose, and the other half is seen when Rose looks through the 'shadow kissed bond thing' and checks in on Lisa. Confusing? Not really, it's introduced early on in the story line and takes very little time to get used to.

Quick Catch Up: Rose and Lisa had run away from school awhile back to protect Lisa, but they get stopped by the school guardians and are forced to return after two (?) years on their own. Lisa is slightly caught up in typical school drama ("That's *my* boyfriend!" "Well, then *your* boyfriend just asked me to dance and I really like dancing..." "Oh, we are SO not friends anymore!!"), but Rose is more badass. I imagine her punching people in her dreams more often then not. She gets into fights, yada yada, basic truant stuff. Dimitri, the guard that caught her and lisa, starts training her again for guardianship when she graduates, but in about the first book or so you can easily see a 'my true love!' thing will happen. Sure enough, Dimitri and Rose have a whole big romance going on, but for the sake of pedophilia charges they usually try to call it off. (he's about 6/7 years older than her...don't judge) So Lisa is more into the whole 'Royal Vamp' scene, while Rose is training to be her guardian while trying to manage her feelings for Dimitri. Oh the drama. Lisa is kidnapped and tortured to heal an old and diseased Moroi Royal, but Rose (thanks to Mr. Shadow Kiss Bond) and Dimitri save that day and end it with a Kumbayah around the camp fire...presumably with S'mores and guitars. Lisa eventually falls for Christan (a fire using Moroi...told you these things were awesome, he could cook for hours when camping! No stove needed! Not even a match!!! Talk about a useful ability.), but Strigoi attack the school and turn Dimitri into one of them. Apparently they do that -if you've ever watched 'Interview with the Vampire' than you know how this is done- so Rose decides to leave Lisa and go on a journey to kill Dimitri. (In the first book she and Dimitri had talked about what they wanted if this ever occured and both agreed to kill the other if such a monstrocity ever really did happen)

Which is where this book picks up. Rose has left on her quest to find and kill her 'one true love, destined to be but never can be' Dimitri, and goes to Russia, as he was Russian. The scary person 'Abe' or Zmey (fun nickname) tries to convince her to leave for America, but she only goes to a different city after angering one of Dimitri's sisters and basically getting semi-kicked out. She leaves with Strigoi hunters who don't do anything but randomly stalk and kill the evil vamps, and forces her leadership on them to find Dimitri. Eventually she indeed finds him but, "forgot my first lesson. Never hesitate", as he put it before knocking her unconscious.

She wakes up in a human-proof (^_^) room (human proof? lol...rofl...*sighs* ah, that shouldn't really be that funny but it is...) and tries to fight Dimitri off, but after awhile ends up high off his bite -long story made short: vamp bites are like drugs...just with bite marks- and making her few remaining friends (adrian and lisa) mad at her. Before this, and yes I know I'm backtracking, she met another Shadow Kissed bond friendship/marraige/whatever and learns quite a bit from them. Among these good things gleaned from the other shadow kissed people is a ring 'infused with spirit' -another long story...just read the books- that might just hold the key to our next installment of VA! *happy dancing while ticking off months till its release* For about a month she is continuously asked to, in effect, join the dark side (Light sabres humm in the distance and mechanic breathing echoes through the staticy air), but never says yes. After finally breaking away from Dimitri by stabbing him with a chair leg...brutal right?...she escapes from the Strigoi hideout. He easily survives and chases her for a mile or so where she stabs him with a stolen stake and is deemed dead as he falls from the side of a bridge. Pretty final I would say. Rose gets back to the school, everything is buddy buddy again with Lisa after some big showdowny scene earlier, when she gets a package. In it is the stake she supposedly killed Dimitri with, and a note "You forgot my other lesson: Never turn your back until your sure your enermy is dead.". So friendly, don't you think?

So after being kidnapped, drinking Russian vodka that she suggests be used for jet fuel, meeting her father, and killing (for a few days) Dimitri, Rose had a reprieve from action. Thankfully for fans everywhere Richelle destroyed the irony of a sad ending by giving hope that A) Dimitri might be saved from his evil ways or B) That he'll come back and pwn Rose like he did before. Oh well, it says that after the next book there's another one, so I must assume nothing *too* dramatic and life changing happens there either. I can dream though.

For some reason Richelle Mead makes VA the one vamp series I can get completely into without feeling stupid for reading it. A few 'questionable' scenes are about the only thing between me and shouting to everyone passing by to read the book, but even those are mild and spaced out. Like I said, no whimps allowed in this one, because everyone fight for what they believe in, people actually die (except apparently Dimitri), and twists are usually surprising. When I was done I just turned to my friend and said, "Wow, I would never think of *half* that stuff! God, I'm really not that creative compared to *that*!". Take my word for it, or don't, THIS IS AWESOME! If you like or hate vampires and don't mind the teeny drama plaguing some chapters, then you will thoroughly enjoy this series.

ENDING POINTS:
+ Interesting new characters inroduced
+ Really random plot twists...that I probably just ruined by telling the whole story...but oh well
+ *love* the action
+ Realistic characters that rarely infuriate you
- Sometimes it all seems to revolve around Dimitri, but at least it keeps the story going
- The cliffhanger endings may have some throwing books against the wall. To prevent serious danger to your budget I suggest wall insurance. Just in case.

Othello - Even back then you had to be wary of people with funny names...

If having the main 'bad guy' be named Iago wasn't funny enough, you must also endure what seems like PAGES of 'strumpet', 'villian', and 'fool!' (Evil laughter included). Aside from that, as you can almost expect it from Shakespeare, I found this story to be surprisingly twisted for its 'back-in-the-dayness'. But hey, people were evil then too.

Ok. *deep breath, this will take a little bit to get down* Iago and Roderigo (I know! Poor people, I would be desperate for success too after failing so epically in the name department) break the news to Desdemona's dad about her marrying Othello -the one *African American/Moor* dude working for the government, at two in the morning. Not a happy meeting, but I don't blame him, rage is a common emotion when woken from sound sleep by hoodlems in your street. Iago gets his friend (who wants to marry Desdemona) to bring the father around to Othello's place while he goes to warn Othello. Meanwhile, Turks are planning to attack some city and Othello is about to get orders to leave for a semi-secluded islandy place.

The call to duty overrides crazy dad who thinks Othello bedazzled his daughter with 'Moor Magic' (Tm) and married her before it wore off. Desdemona tells father she isn't retarded or incapacitated, just in love. *cue happy music...or not* So, with love-struck people all around, DD (as we'll call her) simply must go with Othello to this island. Everybody packs up and moves temporarily to the place where, incidentally, they all will die. Iago's wife works for DD as a maid, and despite marrying the devil incarnate, is a fairly nice person. Introduce Cassio: player extrordiaire, expert at kissing his own fingertips (a polite gesture apparently), and a collector of women's hankerchiefs. Cassio got the job Iago wanted, which supposedly sets off this whole plot.

Iago's mastermind plan - 1)Get Cassio in trouble/fired. 2)Tell Othello that DD is sleeping around, particularly with Cassio. 3)Get Cassio to ask DD for help in getting his job back. 4)Get DD's hanky and let Cassio find it. 5)Make Othello think Cassio laughs at both him and DD in his spare time. 6)Get Othello to kill off Cassio and promote Iago. 7)Get rid of Roderigo sometime during or after step 6. 8)Enjoy new job and get rid of everybody nonessential.
Pretty simple actually. Wait, that's a lot of planning for a 'spur of the moment' thing? You didn't think of handkerchiefs either? You don't see the connection between telling Othello to kill DD and yet never wanting to kill her earlier? Well, neither do I. But it's still awesome.

Iago gets Rodrigo to make Cassio attack him, blah blah, riots, fatal injuries, villages in uproar = Cassio fired. Cassio is friends with basically everybody, so he talks to DD and Iago about what to do. Iago hints that DD could help, Cassio asks her, DD declares something along the lines of 'Othello shall never get a moments rest till this conflict is resolved!'. Iago then tells Othello, with fake modesty of course, that he thinks DD and Cassio are secret lovers, and tells him to watch how much DD pleads with him about it. After a scene or two DD drops her hankerchief (apparently its a special gift from Othello) while running after him, trying to fix some problem or another. Emilia (Iago's wife/DD's maid) finds it and, remembering how often her husband had asked her to steal it, decides to give it to Iago. Smart women, eh? I didn't think so.

Upon getting the hanky, Cassio's fate is sealed. Othello threatens to kill Iago if he doesn't give proof, enter Bianca. Bianca is a 'prostitute' who basically stalks Cassio. He makes fun of her all the time though, but still accepts her dinner invite. Iago gets Othello to hide while he talks to Cassio about Bianca -Othello thinks this is about DD. Othello gets all riled up and declares to Iago later that he just wants to kill them all. Bingo! (and all the seniors groaned while muttering about young luck, but still ate their lemon pie...)

Rodrigo is set to kill Cassio on his way to the brothel/Bianca, while Othello is going to kill DD. It's all symbolic and creepy, 'I'll kill her in the same bed she defiled. I'll save her from herself.'. No good. Rodrigo fails...badly...so Iago cuts off one of Cassio's legs from behind. (ooowww!?!?!) Othello sneaks into DD's room and has a little maniac speech before smothering her. He is interrupted by Emilia, who tells him that Rodrigo is dead, and that Cassio isn't much better himself. DD chooses this moment to not be dead and mutter something about being murdered. Emilia calls the others in to keep Othello from escaping. Iago and Cassio comes in (The latter on a stretcher...probably bleeding profusely the whole time) where the plot begins to unravel. Emilia outs Iago, Iago stabs/kills Emilia, Othello eventually stabs/kills himself, and the visitors are pretty confused. I can only imagine -got here three hours ago and already theres a room full of dead people. Questions anyone?

Between all this masterful evilness and the first page are, as I said before, a lot of pages where Othello calls Desdemona a 'strumpet' (basically a whore...nice husband huh?). There is also lots of stabbing, bleeding, yelling, betrayal, drama, confusing meanness, confrontations, and death. Good stuff from my point of view! I never really watched Soap Operas, but I think I got a decade's worth in a few hours with that book. Good Lord, I had to blink a couple times after putting this one down. Just sitting a few seconds to digest all of it.

ENDING POINTS:
+ Iago is one crazy dude, it was also hilarious to hear the people talking about torturing him on the last couple of pages. Like someone as resourceful as Iago wouldn't escape and try this again in Brazil with a fake mustache and a sombrero?
+/- Desdemona is completely clueless this whole time...even after a scene's worth of accusations in the middle of the play between her and Othello. (My husband calling me a prostitute would *kind of* tell me somethings off)
+ Everyone suspects Iago is doing something, but never figures it out, and usually ends up helping in some way.
+ By the end there are three dead people piled up on DD's bed. Just a comical mental picture.
- You never get a clear reason for Iago to ruin all these people's lives.
- If Othello hadn't been so easily swayed, this whole thing would never have happened. One of those 'stories with a moral' things...

Carrie - My first Stephen King

Right.
How to describe this book? ....'odd' just doesn't do it justice.

A girl, Carrie, who is constantly tormented by her peers and basically the whole town, gets her revenge. Telekinesis is her one claim to coolness, but her fanatical mother calls her the devil's child because of it. A few incidents happen one after another and Carrie's TK (telekinetic, telekinesis, telewhatever...) abilities come back from hiding and enable the following tragedy.

The book switches (somewhat noticeably, so you shouldn't get lost) from story line to excerpts from books/newspapers about the story of Carrie and her revenge. The book is somewhat vulgar, but seeing as this is Stephen King here, this should surprise no one. Sue Snell (God forbid anyone actually passes down the name of 'snell' to their children) is a fellow angst ridden teenager at Carrie's high school, but feels sorry for her and convinces her boyfriend (who is also mildly upset at people's treatment of Carrie) to take Carrie to the prom. Meanwhile, in the 'dark side' of town, a snotty cheerleader is planning to dump pig's blood from the rafters onto the prom King and Queen. She also tries to ensure that Carrie will be the one getting covered in the aforementioned blood bath.

We can easily see these two coincidences lining up to create the big 'you dunnit know beetch!' scenario at the end when Carrie goes crazy and basically kills everyone. Carrie's mom is a real psycho. Religious mania taken to a whole new 'lock me into a psych ward or I'll kill you...' level. Not good. But technically if my mom made me wear six (basically) layers of clothing everyday and called me devil spawn when she wasn't locking me into a closet to repent for my sins, I would kill her later too. Hey, honesty is the best policy. Unless, of course, you plan on setting fire to your home town. You might want to keep *that* one to yourself.

So Carrie and whats-his-face go to prom together, and Carrie has some semi-big-showdown with her mummie over making her own red dress. Oh the horror. Red. *sighs* Anywho...they do in fact get voted as prom King and Queen (by one vote) and the evil cheer girl is outside w/her boyfriend waiting to pull the string that will consequently end in their untimely demise. Blah blah blah, Carrie and (Ted?) have the blood all over them, the guy gets knocked unconscious when the bucket hits him over the head. Carrie trips over herself but runs outside and cries, then decides to kill them all. Nothing disturbing there.

Carrie, now covered in rotten piggy blood, zombie-walks the streets after setting fire to the school and locking all her classmates inside. She makes all the fire hydrants lose their water (read: unscrews the lid and lets water shoot everywhere), and then takes down the power lines. After causing a little chaos there she goes home to finish of mom. Mom, likewise, was waiting to kill sweet little Carrie -wonder why? After getting stabbed in the shoulder by her mother, Carrie uses her fab new superpower to stop the batty old thing's heart. She then basically drags herself away and kills the cheerleader who caused the whole thing, I almost smiled at that one because she was really annoying, then dies after talking to Sue. Well, 'mind-talking' anyway. *mutters* Stupid TK people, they don't even have to talk to do anything. They could just sit there all day and do nothing! Lucky....

Aside from the vulgarity and eventual carnage, the book was pretty 'to the point'. I kind of expected more cruel/personal killing scenes for the high school thing, but I guess setting the whole thing on fire works too. The little article/book excerpts were interesting, and gave the book a 'non-fiction' feel, but at times I had to double check where they ended and the story began.

ENDING POINTS:
+ Carrie is likable, and you really *want* to sympathize with her
+ You also find yourself liking Sue and whats-his-face (Ted???) because they try to help
+ You might (hopefully will) smile when you see the cheerleader and her bf die...by then you will probably hate her too
- Excerpts try to make this seem real, which can get annoying (Think 'Blair Witch Project', "Wait, that wasn't real!?!? WHY???!?!? They lied to me! NOOOOooooooo...")
- The mom is pretty crazy, you wonder why CPS was never called
- You see the carnage coming from chapters away, but it does take a *long* time to get there, the book does a good job with suspense though
+/- Its not really that *scary*...just creepy and 'what?' feeling