BRT: World War Z by Max Brooks

Title: World War Z

Author: Max Brooks

Number of Pages: 342

Date Published: September 12, 2006

Rating: 1.5/5

 

Summary

The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.

 

Review

Just like the summary itself (which is actually, what? Seven paragraphs?), this book is far too long. Much too long for us to give focus to over fifty characters! What I can give points to is the fact it's called a documentary, for indeed it is: it is long and boring.

 

Granted, I don't read much zombie lore. But when I do, I expect it to be a lot scarier than this. I didn't expect to be reading through political motivations, tactical planning, war measures, business opportunities, and especially not from over fifty different perspectives. That's just too much. In the prologue, the narrator tells you he wishes to include the human element of all these events; and take out his own. In my opinion, he took out all of it. The book felt too mechanic, like a machine in which he was fitting the cogs: the people we were reading about.

 

Sure, there were parts where I said, "Ooh, wow! So what happens next?" Thing is, whenever that happened, that was when the perspective changed and I was starting from scratch. Again.

 

The few encounters I've had with zombie lore stick to a certain set of people. I think that's the thing that most irritated me about World War Z. You didn't have one person to worry about and stick to. You never found out the real conclusion for these people other than the fact the narrator is interviewing them. I want to know how they recovered! How they got out of the horrible situations they were in. How they felt when the zombies were gone.

 

I didn't feel any emotional attachment to any of the characters. That's the worst part, I think. Emotional attachment is what makes someone want to keep reading. I kept reading because I promised someone I knew that I'd finish it. Not because I loved the book.

 

I liked the book. I didn't love it. It's a decent book, but it's not good or great. Did it scare me? Occasionally, a shudder went down my spine at the descriptors and the behaviors of the living dead. But was I traumatized or worried at the outbreak of a zombie war? Not really.

 

There's not much to say about World War Z. I have a feeling the movie will be more coherent and impressive than the novel. I'm trying to get into the zombie craze, but this didn't help encourage me in doing so. Read it if you wish; there are thousands upon millions of others who loved it. I just wasn't one of them. It wasn't my cup of tea...or hunk of flesh...

3W: Backscratching

Yeah, weird title; I know.

Thing is, there's something I've known but more or less ignored since I got back into blogging (three times now). When you have a  blog, if you want readers, you have to acknowledge those readers. You have to let them know you appreciate them as much as they appreciate you, enough to go visit their own blogs.

Like I've said before, I'm pretty self-centered. That self-centered gene rears its head after I finish preparing blog posts and says, "Oh, go write. You can worry about your readers later."

Well, I want to end that stupid little self-centered gene's input! Therefore, I've placed a folder on my desktop with a bunch of blogs in there and hope to make myself check it every few days.

Aside from the blogging acknowledgment, this is also an incredibly vital part to forming the elusive "platform" agents and bloggers and readers all strive to obtain. As it goes... "You scratch my back, I scratch yours." So I'll try and scratch all of your backs as much as I can. I've let the itch really grow, haven't I? (As I type, my back itches. ): *Rubs chair*)

Have a good Wednesday, everyone! Keeping it nice and short for ya.

Random Monday: "Oh, don't be so dramatic!"

Put this scenario into your head:

The train a silver-haired, half-human cyborg stands on enters a tunnel. He holds his blade, preparing to face the black-haired Samuel, a cyborg much like him. The two duel for a short while, but after Sam declares our main character, Raiden, holds his blade away from its true potential, Sam catches him off guard.

He rushes and slices skyward, sending blood spurting into the air. Raiden staggers back and claps a hand over his eye, falling to one knee. He moves his hand to show that his eye is gone.

Then he stands up...

And keeps fighting?!

Again, Sam catches him unwary of an attack, and attacks. This time...Raiden's arm is cut off.

So what does Raiden do?

"Oh, not again," he groans. And proceeds to fight further.

~~~

UMM? OKAY, granted. This is a video game. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. And I suppose he had pain receptors that kept him from feeling the pain, but...uh... dramatic-much? I understand it was kind of cool at the time to hobble around helplessly trying to fight Sam with one arm, but after the fact, it seemed a bit too much.

What I'm trying to say is that people shouldn't stress how strong or how much endurance a character has with forced scenarios like that. Sure, it  gives Raiden a vendetta he takes care of later in the game, but we didn't need the helpless limping around for five minutes. It's like an anime where the character has 50 gallons of blood, which DEFINITELY shouldn't be the case since Raiden's HALF ROBOT.

There's my little rant/random Monday. What kind of scenarios do you find in which something too dramatic happens to a character, and they defy almost too-impossible odds? Happy Monday!

Random Monday: Bruises for the Sake of Experience

Nooooo... Slippingslippingslipping

NonononononononoNONONO!!!

SLAM.

This is a description of what was running through my head when I slipped last Wednesday and slammed over a wooden table, my lower ribcage ramming into the edge of the table so hard it knocked the wind out of me.

I crumpled to the ground, groaning and cursing in pain, and trying to breathe. I was home alone at the time, so luckily there wasn't humiliation to get thrown in with the pain...

I finally recovered and thought I was good. I worried for a moment that I might have a broken rib, but after some poking and prodding, I was pretty sure I was fine.

Then later that night, upon crossing my arms and letting out a hiss of pain, my mom asked, "Uh...you okay?" I explained what happened, to which she expressed sympathy instead of laughter, thank God.

Without warning, to her or myself, I asked, "Is that what it feels like to get suckerpunched?"

A little bemused, she responded, "Probably."

I thought to myself, Cool! So I'm being accurate when I'm writing and describing how it feels for a character to get suckerpunched in the gut.

I thought this was a kind of amusing thought to run through my head, but I wonder, do you guys do the same thing? If you get hurt in a certain way, do you think, Oh, I have to remember this so I describe it properly in a book! It wouldn't surprise me, but this is Random Monday, so I need to share the random thoughts--predictable or not--that I'm having!

(By the way, I have bruises all along my lower ribs. Owwie.)

Happy Monday!

Interview Saturday: OPEN! :D

That's right! I'll be getting in touch with some people I'm eager to have on here and advertising on Twitter to let people know I'm taking "applications" for Interview Saturday.

Nice, short, and simple; so in compensation for that, have a picture of...

...This.



I love you... I'll hug you if you apply for an interview (:

Oh, by the way! You can do this more than once, most definitely! We all have more than one character, I'm sure. If you want another character interviewed after an Interview Saturday, GO FOR IT. The only rule will be that you can't have two in a row.

BRT: Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

Title: Grave Mercy

Author: Robin LaFevers

Number of Pages: 549

Rating: 4/5

Published Date: April 3, 2012

 

Summary

Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?

 

Review

This craftily-woven, intriguing story of female assassins takes place in Brittany, France. The blurb of the story had an addicting premise to it, and I couldn't help but make the purchase. When I started the book, I was disappointed by the slow exposition.

 

See, there's something about assassin-based lore that disturbs me. I don't like assassin lore most of the time. I've been trying to play Assassin's Creed, and it's hard for me because there's something about it that just turns me off. That would be the fact it seems like there's only half-proven opinions as to why targets should die.

 

Upon Ismae's first target, and her second; it just seemed that she was told "This man betrayed France", and she just accepted it. Same for Assassin's Creed. "This man needs to die, but I can't tell you why." That just turns me off. I want solid, visible proof that this person should die.

 

It's because of these two missions that I gave the book a lower rating--as well as the slower exposition. It took too long for the real story to kick in (around 100 pages, if memory serves). But...after that? After we join Gavriel on his mission to protect the duchess?

 

Swoon! For one, Ismae tells the story with the perfect tone. Elegant, dignified... I don't think I saw any contractions. Given the time of the book and the setting, this was more than appropriate. The amount of research LaFevers put into this was admirable. (Though, I must admit, she explains that crossbows are good for long-range shots while another book I read said the opposite. I wonder?)

 

Two, the setting of characters: ingenious. Everyone had a place in the story, whether minor or major; and the book kept me guessing with Ismae to the very moment she discovered the culprit of each trial she faced. There was something about each and every character you had to love.

 

Back to my explanation earlier of mindless assassination turning me off, this was remedied by the fact Ismae starts to question the convent's choices. (If curious, the protagonist in Assassin's Creed does the same.) She realizes not all these people are guilty of what she has been told, and that some people can redeem for their sins and might possibly seek that redemption.

 

Guys, by the time I reached the climax of this, I was squealing! This plot was so freaking beautiful. There's nothing not to love in this book, aside from maybe the slowness of the first piece of the work. Seriously, though. What comes after that is so worth it. This is a story of passion, assassination, mystery, poison, love, war...and the mercy of St. Mortain himself. Four stars, closer to five than anything! This story will stay with you. Eagerly awaiting Dark Triumph to come out in paperback.



Writing World Wednesday: Plot, Bones, and Meat

Note: After this post, I'll be addressing Writing World Wednesday as 3W. (WWW looks mushed.)

For years, one of my hobbies has been joint-story-creations with one of my followers, Z.G. Writer (Visit her here at Key to Eden! She's just starting out, so give her some support (: ). One of the stories we've been working on crashed...hard... We knew some things that needed to be addressed, but I still felt like there was something wrong... I just couldn't put my finger on it...

One night, as I lay thinking about it in bed three hours after I should've gone, I pondered. What is it that makes a story function? The plot, of course; and the characters. The characters can drive the plot, or the plot can drive the characters. Additionally, the world can be a stimulant as well. But what if there just isn't enough? The characters can't all be so connected to the plot that they...

Then it hit me. Something I know that's crucial to a work-in-progress, something we actually have plenty of, but...somehow, it seemed we needed another.

Subplots.

Oh, sure, we've got subplots. Thing is, some subplots are specific to certain characters. The trauma upon two characters, the romance between a few others, or the past between some of them. It hit me: We need a new subplot that includes everyone.

Am I driving you crazy, Z.G.? (I haven't told her the subplot idea yet.)

Upon hitting the realization plot points, subplots, specific-character subplots, and pure plot are all different, I had a discussion with the amazing Charlee Vale. It went like this:

Me: Though it kind of bogs you down sometimes, you NEED subplots.
Charlee: With discretion, or at least you need the illusion that some characters have other stuff going on in their lives.
Me: Yeah, of course. The characters help build the plot. But the plot needs more to it than just one goal.

The main plot? The BIG conclusion? Those are the bones of the story. Then you have the subplot with your characters, the one that makes you love and care about them. That's the muscle.

After that, you need subplots that don't have readers focused only on the MAIN plot. A law I go by is, "people have fifteen minutes of an attention span." Don't have characters discussing ONE plot point for fifteen minutes. They'll put the book down and find something more interesting to do, like laundry. Laundry isn't interesting. Don't let that happen. These plots are the skin of your story, what makes it so interesting to look at and speak to.

(Am I explaining this very well? Metaphor: Book vs. really-attractive-person. The better developed plot/subplot/world/characters, the more attractive the person. Wow, how superficial am I?)

That's just something I've been thinking of lately. Don't get me wrong: the joint-operation story is awesome. It was just slowing down, and I wanted to speed it up with a plot point that includes everyone. If you ever worry about something like that, consider: You may have subplots, but do you have enough...or too many? Keep an eye on them.