~Review of A.C. Crispin's YESTERDAY'S SON~

Yesterday's Son (Star Trek: The Original Series #11)

Opening Line: "Captain's Personal Log Stardate 6324.09"

A while ago I caught the classic Star Trek episode All Our Yesterdays on late night TV and got sucked right into the story. As well as just how awesomely cheesy the original series is (I really have to watch it more often) Anyways, I happened to mention the episode to my long time Trekkie Mum who found this tie-in book tucked away on a dust covered shelf (amongst hundreds of others)

YESTERDAY’S SON is a continuation of sorts to that original TV episode All Our Yesterdays, playing on the what-if scenario that Spock and Zarabeth’s little indiscretion 5,000 years ago (due to Gateway Time travel) resulted in a child. (It seems Starfleet doesn’t issue condoms)

Now Spock goes back to the planet Sarpedion and using the mysterious time portal meets his 5,000 year old son. Time travel is so much fun, anything is possible. And while this is way out of the realm of what I usually read, I have to say that I enjoyed it. It’s a well written, clever story, capturing the essence of the original series perfectly while giving us a peek into the minds of our favourite characters.

The author obviously knows her Star Trek, managing to include mention of several other episodes along the way which will have Trekkies smiling. There’s a good amount of action involved here including a strategic space battle with the Enterprise outnumbered by the Romulan fleet Go Scottie! and some good old fashioned hand to hand combat too. We also get a ton of Vulcan history - is there like a bible of this stuff somewhere?

All the characters are represented in one way or another, remaining true to form. Kirk in all his Captainly awesomeness, Bones who is less grouchy then I remember, taking on a more father like role here and Spock who I honestly didn’t like very much. His character is cold, heartless condescending and frustrating. Yeah I know he’s Vulcan and emotionless but he’s also an a-hole. We also get a glimpse of some doomed red-shirts and spend just enough time with Scotty, Uhura, Chechov and Sulu to make it feel like a real episode.

Speaking of Sulu, he has one of my favourite lines from the whole book which is only ironic now 20 years later. He and Uhura are discussing how much Zar and Spock look alike

"Have you ever looked into Zar’s eyes?” Uhura leaned forward a little, lowering her voice.

“No--other men’s eyes don’t do anything for me, I’m afraid” Sulu grinned.

Ah yes, the science of Star Trek. Cheers.

~REVIEW of Luke Davies' CANDY~

Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction 

Opening Line: "There were good times and bad times, but in the beginning there were more good times."

Wow this was fantastic, in a watching a beautiful car crash sort of way. Following the day to day struggles, triumphs and ultimate decay of a heroin addict and his girlfriend. It was almost impossible to look away and put this book down even though it’s graphic, horrible, depressing and often pointless. Told in the first person with vividly poetic and just plain amazing writing there’s a surprisingly innocent love story told here as well and I found myself moved by their story. Pulling for our couple and hoping that they could just get clean long enough to come out on the other side of addiction with some kind of future together.

CANDY is a love story, a horror story, and an adventure. It’s darkly humorous and sadly moving. Filled with graphic descriptions of heroin use, vein hunting, needles, sickness, numbness, the endless cycle of finding your next fix, the selling of ones soul and the constant pain. I was exhausted just reading about the kind of stamina it takes to become a full blown junkie.

The scheming and scoring and stealing, the planning and begging and the sickness when you’ve either exhausted all options or you’re trying yet again to get clean (or maybe just not use quite so much) I could feel their pain and hopelessness in particular the mind numbing details as they lock themselves in their rundown apartment and attempt to kick on their own, this is what happens to you physically when you try to come off of a serious heroin addiction and it was tough to witness.

We follow our couple over a ten year period starting in Sydney during their heady early days of first love. Its summer and the world is beautiful and new. Candy, a gorgeous aspiring actress wants to learn everything about her new love, including what its like to use heroin and despite an almost immediate overdose the wheels are set in motion. She wants more.

Through our narrators eyes we watch Candy go from aspiring actress to high paid escort to street hooker. It’s an easy natural progression that somehow seems to make sense for both of them. He remains a con, a thief and a dealer. They often talk of getting clean, having a baby. They move to Melbourne to start again, they relapse; they get married and are the coolest couple in McDonalds dressed in their wedding attire, wasted after using their wedding money to score. There are serious highs and desperate lows. From high-end apartments to slums, hepatitis and crabs, bad scams, arrests and the loss of their baby. Throughout it all they remain in desperate love with each other and heroin.

This did not end at all like I was expecting and was in fact sadder then I had thought possible. It’s haunting when everything turns blue and all that’s left is methadone, madness, loneliness, a job washing dishes and playing Frisbee in the sun.

~REVIEW of Chuck Palahniuk's FIGHT CLUB~

Opening line: “Tyler gets me a job as a waiter, after Tyler’s pushing a gun in my mouth and saying, the first step to eternal life is you have to die”

There’s not much I can say about FIGHT CLUB that hasn’t been said already (besides I’m not supposed to talk about it -first rule of FC and all) It’s one of those books on everyone’s “to read” list and ultimately it's everything you'd expect it to be; disjointed, astonishing, dark, gritty and fantastic. Although I did wonder how you’d manage to understand what’s going on in the beginning chapters without having seen the movie first because they don’t make a whole lot of sense.

Of course you can’t help but compare the book to the movie. And in saying that I was surprised to learn that Fight Club the movie followed the book faithfully (including dialogue). It is so similar in fact that the book now reads much like a screenplay adaptation, even though it came first. Movies rarely follow the book word for word and subsequently I didn’t enjoy this as much as I’d been expecting to. There wasn’t anything extra here, no added insight into Tyler Durden’s character, no dirty scenes that didn‘t make it into the movie. I just kept picturing Brad Pitt and Edward Norton (not a bad thing) but then I also pictured Meatloaf Big Bob and his huge man boobs.

The ending however is completely different and it blew my mind. We see the unnamed narrator’s split personality develop much earlier “I know this because Tyler knows this” It’s not the zenith moment, just a symptom, and he (and we) become aware of it much earlier. We then get to watch “him” try to keep it together, to reign in his space monkeys, to get rid of Tyler by staying awake, to disband project mayhem "Tyler told us you’d say that" and his descent into madness is just brilliant.

The afterwards by the author is also very interesting. Detailing how this all started as a 7 page story he wrote when he was bored at work one day (its included as chapter 6 in the book) and then of course he expanded, added some friends stories (the naughty waiters and film splicing) and wrote what has transformed into the cult classic it is today.

Still, I think everyone should read this book

~REVIEW of Nicholas Sparks' NIGHTS IN RODANTHE~

Opening line: "Three years earlier, on a warm November morning Adrienne Willis had returned to the inn and at first glance had thought it unchanged, as if the small inn were impervious to the sun and sand and salted mist."

Even in a book that's only 222 pages long Nicholas Sparks manages to weave his magic. Building a level of suspense as we await breathless to learn of Paul's fate. Reminisent of The Bridges of Madison County this is a quick, easy read but a great story nontheless.

The story begins with Adrienne telling her widowed daughter the tale of her brief love affair fourteen years earlier with a surgeon named Paul. We then alternate between Paul and Adrienne's points of view as we learn the story of their lives and what brought them each to divorce before they found themselves at the inn in Rodanthe.

With a violent storm brewing our protagonists share a walk on the beach and two meals together then fall hopelessly in love. (This did feel a little rushed to me but whatever it's Nicholas Sparks we all know where he's going) After five blissful days together Paul leaves Rodanthe to join his son at the medical clinic in Ecuador. Promising to return to Adrienne at Christmas so they can have their HEA but...well it's Nicholas Sparks isn't it.

This is a quick, smooth read with well developed characters and the typical tugging of the heartstrings we have all come to expect from Sparks. Cheers

“The greater the love, the greater the tragedy when it’s over those two elements always go together”

~REVIEW of Tanya Huff's: BLOOD TRAIL~

~THE WEREWOLVES OF LONDON (ONTARIO)~

Blood Trail (Victoria Nelson, #2)

Opening Line: "The three-quarter moon, hanging low in the night sky, turned even tamed and placid farmland into a mysterious landscape of silver light and shadows."

BLOOD TRAIL is the second book in the thoroughly enjoyable Blood (Ties) series. As a fan of the TV show I was thrilled to discover this 5 part series of books and except for the absence of cell phones you won't be able to tell they were written in 1991. Once more I was impressed by author Tanya Huffs writing as she expertly weaves together multiple storylines and POV's creating a fun, action filled paranormal mystery. We even get a little romance this time (although it remains fade-to-black) as ex-cop turned P.I Vicki Nelson again joins forces with 400 year old romance author and vampire Henry Fitzroy. Throw in Vickie's jealous former partner Mike Celluci, a family of sheep farming werewolves and a crazed sniper with religious issues and you've got yourself the makings of a great story.

Vicki is a strong willed and very likable character who lives in the real world with the rest of us however ever since she met Henry and battled a demon in the last book she has also come to accept the world of the paranormal. It doesn't take much for her to accept a family of werewolves as her next case. It seems someone has discovered the Heerken's secret and has been hunting and killing pack members while they attend to their flocks of sheep. Of course they can't go to the police so investigator Vicki Nelson is their only hope. Huff's descriptions of Wer behaviour are well done here to the point that I felt she must have done research on real werewolves as she gives us often hilarious look at their possessiveness issues, politics, pack hierarchy and other social behaviours. All the while the neighbours just assume they're nudists with a lot of big dogs to keep strangers away.

Because of Vicki's night blindness she takes Henry with her to the Ontario farm. This works to her advantage as Henry can patrol nights while she finds clues and tries to discover the sniper's identity during the day. Henry and Vicki continue to have an aura of sexual tension which eventually reaches a breaking point after Henry is injured and forced to feed. Vicki is more than willing to accommodate him and this only gets further complicated when Mike suddenly arrives at the farm. It seems after doing some investigation he's now convinced Henry's s involved in organized crime. There's lots of snappy dialogue as the three fight off the sniper, angry werewolves and each other.

For the most part this was a fast paced and entertaining read with the storyline between Henry, Vicki and Mike continuing to develop throughout. Although I felt the story lagged in the middle it was still a great read that I would recommend to any paranormal junkies. Cheers.

~REVIEW of Tanya Huff's BLOOD PRICE~

~GREAT SERIES OPENER THAT STANDS THE TEST OF TIME~

Blood Price (Victoria Nelson, #1)

Opening Line: "Ian shoved his hands deep in his pockets and scowled down the length of the empty subway platform."

Written in 1991 BLOOD PRICE was the basis for the television series Blood Ties. After becoming a fan of the TV show I discovered author Tanya Huff and was instantly blown away by her writing. Now this 5 part series also has the added bonus of visual character references (in particular Henry the yummy Vampire). I will definitely be continuing on with this series and would highly recommend it to other fans of the paranormal genre. Despite the noticeable absence of cell phones and computers it holds up perfectly well by today's standards.

 Vicki Nelson is going blind and because of her degenerative eye disease has had to leave her job with the Toronto police department. Now a private investigator the headstrong and intelligent P.I tackles most of her cases during daylight hours when she has some amount of reliable vision. One night however while waiting at the subway station she stumbles upon a murder victim and is immediately wrapped up in case beyond her wildest expectations. The case forces Vicki to call upon ex partner (and sometimes lover) Mike Celluci as well as befriending the 450 year old illegitimate son of King Henry VIII, a gorgeous vampire who makes a living writing historic romance novels.

The three main characters diverse personalities play well off each other and ooze sexual tension throughout. And even though all the love scenes are fade-to-black I surprisingly enjoyed having to use my imagination in a time when all books get down and dirty in vivid detail. Huff has also given us the advantage of multiple POV's within this story and I especially enjoyed Henry's numerous flashbacks, taking us back to when he was turned and his many adventures and lost loves after. I also liked the fact that this takes place in the real (Canadian!) world because we don't believe in the paranormal here and at first neither does Vicki.

As I mentioned before the writing is top notch although I found the story lagged a bit in the middle when we entered the demon caller antagonist Norman's head. The ending however more than makes up for it with page-turning excitement. This promises to be a great series and fans of Blood Ties or Vampires and the paranormal in general couldn't ask for more. Cheers

~REVIEW of Sara Gruen's WATER FOR ELEPHANTS~

 Star read

In the beginning of Water For Elephants Jacob Jankowski tells us that he is ninety or ninety-three. One or the other. He's not really sure anymore? His body betrayed him years ago and Jacob now fears that his mind isn’t far behind. Shuffling along miserably behind his walker, he’s living out his final days in the nursing home and hating every minute of it. Just another invisible senior citizen who’s family and the world as a whole has forgotten about.

When the circus comes to town and sets up its Big Top tents across the street Jacob comes alive and through a series of flashbacks begins to tell us his life’s story. Taking us back to when he joined the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show On Earth, a traveling circus he toured with during the great depression. So step right up folks because this old man has quite the story to tell.

At the age of 23 Jacob had a predictable future set out ahead of him, one that certainly didn’t involve joining the circus. However with his parents untimely death and the bank foreclosing on his family home Jacob soon finds himself homeless, heartbroken and mentally quite unable to sit his final veterinary exams. When an exotic, animal filled train steams toward him Jacob doesn’t even think. Flinging himself aboard the boxcar and inadvertently changing his destiny forever.

I absolutely adored this book, alternately falling in love with both Jacob, the crotchety old man and Jacob, the young, moral and penniless circus veterinarian. Water For Elephants transported me to another time and quickly became one of those books I never wanted to end.

Author Sara Gruen has researched the depression era circus life down to the smallest of details and I feel that this captivating and vivid story will appeal to almost anyone. Filled with action, adventure and a sweet forbidden romance there is also a fascinating sideshow of secondary characters including a clever Polish Elephant, a grouchy little person as Jacob’s roommate and a cruel and schizophrenic animal trainer whose wife Jacob just happens to fall in love with. All of this has been wrapped together with a compelling and innovative behind the scenes look aboard a travelling circus train. Showing us more often then not the darker side of circus life after the big top closes down. This is a love story, a life story, an animal lover’s story but above all it’s a circus story and who of us hasn’t dreamed about running away and joining the circus at some point in our lives? And the ending… *sigh*

I can't say enough good about this book, its easily one of my favourite reads this year and with Robert Pattinson now taking on the upcoming movie role version of Jacob, I was able to picture him while reading, making it all the more sweeter. Cheers!