‘V is for Villian’, by Peter Moore, tries desperately hard to be a stand-out in the already crowded field of superhero fiction, but ultimately fails. As somewhat of a ‘superfiction connoisseur’ (A term I totally just made up, but that works), I know what does and does not work for superhero fiction (henceforth to be known as SF), and I could see Moore attempting to Weave it into his story, but it comes across as hastily and poorly done. I know that right now I’m being fairly vague, so I’ll give you a synopsis of the story, and some examples.

Synopsis, Straight from the Blurb:”Brad Baron is used to looking lame compared to his older brother, Blake. Though Brad's basically a genius, Blake is a superhero in the elite Justice Force. And Brad doesn't measure up at his high school, either, where powers like super-strength and flying are the norm. So when Brad makes friends who are more into political action than weight lifting, he's happy to join a new crew-especially since it means spending more time with Layla, a girl who may or may not have a totally illegal, totally secret super-power. And with her help, Brad begins to hone a dangerous new power of his own.

But when they're pulled into a web of nefarious criminals, high-stakes battles, and startling family secrets, Brad must choose which side he's on. And once he does, there's no turning back.”


Now, on to my problems with the book. Before I move on and completely tear this thing down, I’d like to make it clear that this is not a terrible book. It’s pretty decent. The narrator has a funny, if dry, style, and his writing is average, though not anything to write home about (see what I did there?). He had an interesting concept going, but it’s dated. The idea of there being a school of people with special abilities is so over done. I’m not saying that it can’t be done any more, but the author would have to introduce a completely unique and new concept or character into the story to balance out the cliché nature of the trope.  But, considering that this is a novel for Young Adults (way below my reading level, I was proof reading it for my little brother, checking and making sure it was appropriate), the mediocrity of the story can perhaps be forgiven.

                What I find slightly more difficult to forgive, however, are the massive, gaping, dripping, partially stars-mostly void, cavernous, bottomless, PLOT HOLES AND INCONSISTINCIES that this story displays.

1.       Brad jumps into the decision to be a supervillian way too quickly, and make this decision too lightly. Considering that, in his world, Supervillians are generally killed swiftly and without mercy (it’s also televised, did I mention that?), it doesn’t make sense that he would do this so easily, with so few issues. In fact, the idea of being a Supervillian at all was completely unnecessary in his situation, and seemed to be only a plot device. What started off as a group of politically minded anti-Hero teen dissidents somehow warped into a group of Teen Supervillians, and the line they crossed to get there is extremely fuzzy.

2.       His character development is weak. Not only for the Main character, who, being the first-person narrator has a fairly easy to track character development (despite the jumps in logic that the plot necessitates, but make very little sense), but for the supporting characters as well. For the most part, they’re all flat characters, capable of the one characteristic that the narrator describes them as having, and nothing more.

3.       Too many ‘When did this happen?!’ moments! I know this kind of loops back to the character development, but the author spent an inordinate amount of time building up romantic tension between two characters, and then it never reached a climax! At one point, the narrator just started calling her his girlfriend, with no mention of when this happened! I really dislike when a story does this, and the author makes a bad habit of doing it.

There’s more, a lot more, but what would be the point in going through all of it?  Just take my word for it when I say this book was average, nothing more. I give it a 6 out of 10, with one point docked for bad plot development, shoddy characters, and unoriginal concepts

The Well of Ascension

The Well of Ascension,by Brandon Sanderson, takes place one year after the events of Mistborn: The Final Empire, when the lands of the Final Empire,no longer under the thumb of the Immortal Lord ruler, are still in chaos after the end of the revolution. The mists are behaving strangely, appearing in daylight and murdering people in the countryside. And the city of Luthadel stands as a solitary beacon of stability in a world of anarchy and death. Until it is besieged by three different armies, bent on conquest and destruction...

I won't go into any lengthy description of the story and the characters, as that would certainly include spoilers for the first volume in the series, and since I also covered the setting in my previous review of Mistborn. Just take my word for it when I say that The Well of Ascension is a great fantasy novel. As Logan  Sutherland, fellow Sanderson fan said, it does seems to suffer slightly from the infamous second book syndrome, in that it lacks a lot of the aspects which made the first book so brilliant, and pales in comparison to the first book's absolute genius. The story is slightly less appealing, the characters are a teensy bit less interesting (and neurotic, due to a certain plot element I shall not name) , and the antagonists are not as mysterious as they were in The Final Empire. However, Sanderson makes up for this by giving us peeks into the minds and perspectives of some of the more one-dimensional characters in his first book, giving us a chance to sympathize with them, and rounding them out. There are a couple of great twists, a handful of new characters, and the ending is absolutely excellent, leaving the reader eager to jump into the last book in the trilogy, The Hero of Ages. As is the case with any Sanderson title, this book is a wonderful addition to an amazing series.

Brandon Sanderson

  I recently downloaded an application on my phone that allows me to read whole novels on it. I've been reading a lot of books lately, and it has been glorious. Though I've been reading many different books and genres lately, the works of Brandon Sanderson have been the most impactful so far. 

Author of the Mistborn Series, as well as the Steelheart trilogy, Sanderson is clearly a master of the action-fantasy genre. While he shows a clear skill for writing fantastically detailed action scenes, part of his talent alsoseems to lie in the diversity of his work. The two series' by him that I have read, though both technically fitting into the action-fantasy category, are so vastly different (in terms of setting, plot, and character motivation) that his skill as a writer is clearly showcased. 

   In the Mistborn series, we're brought into the Realm of the Lord Ruler, an immortal tyrant whorules with a (literally) Iron fist over his subjects. He has subjugated the ancestors of his enemies, creating a race know as skaa- hopeless,helpless, and easily manipulated. While the upper class (those who are the ancestors of his allies) parties night after night, the skaa live in slums, fiorced to work until they die or make their living on thievery. Enter Vin. A young  skaa girl, strong and hiding behind a facade of weakness, is part of a crew of other thieves. They are not a family, they are not friends. Each of them expects nothing less than eventual betrayal from each-other, but they make do, to survive. Vin has seen countless thieves die, caught by agents of the Lord Ruler, or simply unlucky. She, however, has an advantage: 'Luck'. A power she doesn't quite understand, she is able to manipulate the emotions of her targets and make them more easily manipulable. This gift has carried Vin-and her entire crew,really- for quite some time, until she mistakenly uses her ability on a member of the Lord Ruler's personal staff, who are trained to detect emotional interference. This is an offence especially punishable for Vin because the Skaa are forbidden from using any sort of magic.

 There's more, but if I tried to encompass all of the detail that Sanderson puts into this book, I might as well just give you the book itself. It’s a great read, taking place in a dark world, with shady antagonists, gruesome violence, and a gritty yet endearing main character. Mistborn is a great example of the  Sanderson’s prowess ion this genre.

This makes it all the more amazing that the other series I read by Sanderson, the Steelheart Trilogy, has a completely different feel to it. It takes place in a world where Eopics-extremely powerful, superpowered beings- have taken over. There are no good Epics. Somehow, the process of becoming Epics (which is just as mysterious as where they came from) makes people evil. The first book of the Trilogy takes place in Newcago, the remnants of what was once Chicago. However, ten years ago, an Epic with  a slew of powers arrived in Chgicago, took over, and turned everything to steel. In addition, another Epic has used his powr to make it perpetual night. So, you’ve got this dark, noir-type setting in which the characters are perpetually afraid of just randomly being offed by superpowered beings. And yet….the book is hilarious, a completely different feel from Mistborn.Sanderson’s tonal range never ceases to amaze.  

Worm

     An antisocial (though not by choice) teenage girl with an unconventional superpower, Taylor Hebert (later to be named Skitter) goes out in costume to find escape from a deeply unhappy and frustrated civilian life. For months, her sole salvation from the bullying and social torment that fills her life is the hope of being a hero. She hopes to finally 'show them', prove her tormentors wrong and emerge a true hero one to be pointed at as a Paragon of goodness and strength. Instead, her first attempt at taking down a supervillain sees her mistaken for one, thrusting her into the midst of the local ‘cape’ ( a term for any super-person, or person with powers) scene’s politics, unwritten rules, and ambiguous morals. As she risks life and limb, Taylor faces the dilemma of having to do the wrong things for the right reasons. 

     The story, titled Worm, has taken the form of a  serial, published in large chapters that, over the course of the story's run, have culminated in sevral novel's worth of words. Worm started in June 2011, updating twice a week, and finished in late November, 2013. It totals roughly 1,750,000 words; roughly 26 typical novels in length (or 10-11 very thick novels).  

     The actual work is divided into a number of story arcs, each containing five to sixteen individual chapters.  Interludes (side stories) are inserted between each story arc to showcase events from different perspectives or provide some background information that the reader wouldn’t get from Taylor’s point of view. From the standpoint of a writer, I wouldn't normally advise doing this sort of thing, the perspective switches have no explanation. It simply switches from Taylor's First-person narration in one chapter, and is suddenly someone else's in another. However, this was done in such a beautiful way in this story that I can't complain. The author uses the perspective switches to bring sympathy to sociopathic villains (never an easy task), as well as really drive home the severity of situations that the reader wouldn't be able to fully comprehend from Taylor's Sole viewpoint. 

     Readers should be cautioned that Worm is fairly dark as fiction goes, and it gets far darker as the story progresses.  Morality isn’t black and white, Taylor and her acquaintances aren’t invincible, the heroes aren’t winning the war between right and wrong, and superpowers haven’t necessarily affected society for the better.  Just the opposite on every count, really.  Even on a more fundamental level, Taylor’s day to day life is unhappy, with her clinging to the end of her rope from the story’s outset.   There’s graphic language, descriptions of violence and sex does happen (albeit offscreen).  It would be easier to note the trigger warnings that don’t apply than all the ones that do;most atrocities that you can imagine not only havehappened in the Wormverse, but  do so in excess. 

     This isn't your Grandpa's Golden Age Superhero Comic. In fact, unlike many pieces of 'superhero fiction' (of which there is an unsurprisingly large genre) the powers and abilities shown in Worm are almost all of the surprisingly brutal variety. Even Taylor, who's power to control insects seems harmless enough at first, bends it to nauseatingly brutal ends. Think about it, insects can get into most places, and many of them are poisonous. How dangerous would someone be if they could harness that,  retain the natral horror of Insect's, but with a human's cold logic and malignant,  forcing the insects to go exactly where they wanted. Anywhwere.  

Think about it. 

Think about it. 

Yeah. 

     All in all, this probably isn’t a story for the sensitive or the young. Personally, I would give it an NC-17 rating, but it's such a fantastic story that I'd hate to restrict it to one age group, or from a certain age group, horror or otherwise. 

Welcome to the Internet

You are safe.
You are in grave danger.
  You are both at once and are thus free to fully enjoy your life. This duality of existence comforts you, as does the knowledge that none of this matters, that none of this...is real.

Welcome...to the internet.

[Cue Ballad of Fiedler and Muntz]

Hello,reader. I'd like to talk to you today about a program-a podcast, actually- that is very special to me. No, no, I know what you're thinking. It isn't Blacker than Death: Chronicles of a Stygian Reversal, though I do so love how the voice actor portrays the Unicorns and bunnies. No, the podcast I wish to speak of today is a little gem called Welcome to Night Vale. Strictly speaking,this blog is supposed to be about something I read, not listened to, but that's ok! I've actually been reading transcripts of the podcast all week! Sure, reading the transcripts aren't the same as having Cecil Baldwin's dulcet tones purr into my ear, but I can make do. Looking directly at the words and processing them, instead of having them pulled between my ears on a velvet cord/chord,I can still imagine  his voice. More importantly, however, I can analyze.

I wont go into  too much detail, readers, because I'd hate to spoil such a fantastic thing for you, but the creators of Welcome to Night Vale have built, over time, an incredibly complex world, with many layered plots, conspiracies up the wazoo, and I'm fairly certain they've got a subterranean warehouse  that houses a surplus of wazoos.


But, I haven't even told you what the Podcast is about, have I? Well, Welcome to Night Vale is told from the perspective of a newscaster of  a community radio station ,NCR (Night Vale Community Radio). Apparently omnoscient (or a least enough so to be able to report the news as it happens, with no other sources), Cecil dutifully reports the goings-on in Night Vale. I understand that this normally wouldn't sound too exciting, but the events that take place in Night Vale are...well, let me give you some examples.

To start off, Night Vale has been described, by the creators, as 'a town where every conspiracy theory is true'. Yes, EVERY ONE of them.

Some of the inhabitants and odd occurences are as follows:

• Secret underground city.
• Malevolent glow cloud that rains dead animals, transmits terrible hallucinations, and runs the School Board
• Angels that everyone sees but that,legally, do not exist.
• The Sheriff's Secret Police. 
• Municipally Granted Free Will
•  Hooded Figures.
• Trees that whisper compliments to you and convince you to join them in their commune of life force-sharing trees, by physically absorbing you in and turning you into a tree.

I've said too much already. Just, for goodness sake, go listen to it! Here. I suggest episode 42, it has a nice representation of the show's mood, without many spoilers.

(I'm aware that this is not as good a review as I normally do, but I'm exhausted, and I'm literally hallucinating the letters dancing across my screen right now)

Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Book Store

This book doth tickle my fancy.
I'm diggin' this book, yo.

     Notice the difference? Maybe it wasn't the best way to do it, but I'm trying to highlight the difference between old and new, same as Robin Sloane was in Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. The plot of this book, at first, is deceptively simple. Clay, down on his luck web developer goes to work at a bookstore, desperate for money to pay his rent. There, he meets Mr. Penumbra (by the way, is that an awesome last name or what? Penumbra usually refers to the partial shadow from an eclipse. It bears thought, I'm not sure if the author is trying to tell me something or what.), the eccentric owner of the bookstore. After a few days of tending shop,Clay begins noticing off people, most of them old, coming into the shop at night.

And there, my friends, the adventure begins.

     I don't want to give away too much of it, but it involves a secret society and an ancient secret that can only be decoded by reading specific books in a specific order. This society has existed for centuries, and it's members have yet to solve the mystery/secret/enigma thingy. However, once Clay catches on to what the odd old people are doing, he introduces something to the game that no-one has thought of using.....COMPUTERS!

     With this, my fascination with Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore increased significantly. I was already drawn in by the likable personality of Clay, as well as his plight of having lost a job and not yet gained a girlfriend , but it was extremely interesting to me that Clay,a web developer, chose to work in a book store. To him, the book store represents everything outdated and obsolete, and he says so; his opinion is that, sad as it is, most books will be available in digital form within the next year. However, reading books, touching them and savoring their unique smell (don't lie, you know books have a smell), he's reminded of why maybe we shouldn't be so quick to try to change things.

Read this book.

Gangrene and Lies: Hemingway

   I'm sorry for what you're about to read. I'm tired.

     For the longest time, I resolutely refused, with a rankled rancor, to read the written ravings of Ernest Hemingway. Put quite simply, he seemed like a massive douche to me. Not only was he a misogynist, but he was also a homophobe! Yeah, I know, right!? But see, here's the problem: The man had skills. If Ernest Hemingway was as skillful a writer as he was a misogynist, he must have hated women with a passion comparable to a thousand exploding suns. Of course, I knew he was a good writer, otherwise he wouldn't be famous for his writing, but I had no clue of his skill level until we read a story by him in Ms. Romano's Creative Writing class (where dreams and ideas go to be interred on paper). The level of expertise he displayed in a four page story  made mainly of dialogue was incredible. The things he implied, the relationship he built, the insinuation of Reluctant Submissiveness and Situational Dominance,Subtle tragedy, all of it was masterfully woven into a story that, a first glance, was a simple account of a couple preparing to board a train. It was a very beautiful story, brought into existence by a very ugly man, and I'm still conflicted beyond belief about that.

     In any case, I'll put aside my considerable bias to describe some of his other stories to you. Let it be said that some of theses may need to be read several times for their true meaning to come across, or if you just want to enjoy his writing.

His stories include:

• A fatally overconfident waiter. 
• Gangrene and lies.
• Snow and lies.
• Knives tied to a chair.
• A Cowardly Matador.
• Metaphors for death.
• An old man who lost his cat. 
• Mount Kilimanjaro
• The Femoral artery. 
• A dissapointing movie. 
• Death, at least twice.

     My opinion of Hemingway still isn't the best, but I'll put my bias aside until I finish reading his book. Then, I'll read some more of his books. Then, I'll research his life. Then, I'll contemplate whether it's a good or a bad thing that he blew his own head off. Does the world need more douches, regardless of their literary prowess?

 I'd say no, but damn, I've never seen a man make Gangrene and lies look so good.