Book review

Something different today.
Considering I finished reading the book I agreed to review (I know, I took ages, but this had more to do with me, and my present handicap of never having enough time) I'm going to post the review right here.

Though on Amazon you are only able to give a total of five stars, I am always much aggrieved for having no other options in the starring bit. Since there were no halves and such, I gave a 3.5 on Amazon.
Therefore I've decided to do my own rating system of one to seven stars and will apply them as such: *

Okay, this is the book: http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Ghost-Book-Chaos-Trilogy/dp/0595528805/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1299875331&sr=1-1

The e-book: http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Ghost-Chaos-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B001OMGXIQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&m=A317O7WZ1CN6AQ&s=generic&qid=1299874116&sr=1-4

Stars: *****

The review:
Shadow of the Ghost by Tanner Artesz.

Admittedly, I had some trouble getting into Shadow of the Ghost, which goes out of my usual reading with leaps and bounds. For this reason I was unable to give four stars. I subtracted half.

In the beginning, for me, there was a certain sense of displacement--in particular the preface--that left me somewhat confused. I could have done with a bit more explanation and narrative, since it would have helped me get into the story better.

Writing style:
First of all, I get what the author is trying to achieve, but I think that for lazy readers such as myself--who like to have everything, motivation, action and deed fully described, rather than only the technical and physical description--Shadow of the Ghost requires a bit of a mind shift to fully enjoy this creative fantasy story. The rather intense cadence followed a straight line that rarely diverted. It comes down to the fact that I would have liked to see the author take a bit of risk in his sentence structures, rather than go for the steady and consistent.
The thing I missed while traveling through Artesz’ world, was the “why” rather than the “how”, since his descriptive prose focused primarily on actual actions, instead of motivation, which allowed me less of a connection with the protagonists.
I do have to warn that I am definitely a character-based reader. To me a plot is secondary to my connection with characters.

Plot:
Artesz created a multiple layered plot that was, for me, difficult to keep track of at times. All the elements were there, keeping me on my toes throughout. This novel is definitely a prelude to more to follow since few (if any) of the multiple questions I had get resolved in part one.
I love the idea of all-powerful Gods, especially if they are suffering from a slight handicap, which is, in this case, missing memories. Even after finishing the story, I am still a bit in the dark about what the author tried to convey with this part (I am hoping it will resolved later on in the series) but it is a unique feature of the story from my point of view.
Together “the Nine” Gods battle against their ancient enemy, while we (the readers) are going back and forth between what can only be two different dimensions, (or three, if you include the world of Chaos). The world as we know it--or a version thereof--and a fantasy world of elves, goblins, orcs and wizards. While the Nine face their woes and wage war, an “Old Man” resides in Austria in the late eighties and early nineties. For some reason the contrast made me smile and brought that “little extra” any book needs.

Characters:
Though there are a vast amount of characters to keep track of throughout the story, Delmaria, to me, was most likable. She had a cozy and caring way about her, and Artesz certainly managed to make her a prominent figure within his tale.
Archos, a wizard of old in my estimation, is the wise one and a solid protagonist. A man who lives and breathes the cause, so to speak. Dedicated and strong, he is a good basis for a story to evolve around.
All in all there was an interesting mêlée that gave diversity to the tale when necessary. Personally I would have benefited from a more detailed description of their appearance. I like to be able to form an image of the characters I read about, and yet, for instance, it took me more than a page to discover that Archos had a beard. It was almost as if it were mentioned as an afterthought, but by then it no longer fit with the image this character had become in my head.
Most of the other characters were either transient or sporadic, leaving us with Ky, the lead.
Due to what appeared to be mostly only description of deeds, the main protagonist failed to fully engulf me in his heavy burdens—e.g. it is explained that he is frightened but not the how, or the why, which I regretted a bit.
It left me with some trouble to commiserate with elf Ky as he struggled with the toils of his Godly life (of which there were many) and tried to find his way through the maze of his missing memories.
In due time, however, vengeful Ky did grow on me and he was a wonderfully powerful god beyond compare.

The Villain:
Rachk-Sha, puts in an only sporadic appearance, but was properly evil and with a wonderfully archaic choice of words that, in my mind, would fit a Shakespearian actor. Personally I prefer a clear-cut enemy, but Artesz left me guessing a long time if this villain was the only one I had to worry about.
On the most part Rachk-Sha was described as a feline creature, and this left me with some trouble in creating a clear image of him. Like I said, I’m a lazy reader.

Violence:
There was quite a bit of it, described in short and concise detail that went to the point of extreme bluntness. Personally, I would have liked to see more of the effect it had on the characters, the emotional burden it laid on them, if you will.
On the most part the sharply descriptive events left me a little desensitized to the horror of said occurrences, much to my regret.
Other than that, if effectively showed the might of the main character, his peers and enemy in a very satisfactory fashion.

Conclusion:
As you read this story, you will discover that Artesz has a wealth of creativity just bursting to get out. This is, of course, one of the most important aspects of fantasy, and in world creation his imagination goes to great heights that should fascinate the die-hard fantasy readers. He has a good eye for detail, and to get his image across, he goes into specific detail until there is little left to guess about.
Though regretfully not “my cup of tea”, Tanner Artesz and his Shadow of the Ghost offered me a fascinating story into a world that was, as of recently, unknown to me.

I will gladly recommend this book to those who love to submerge themselves into a fantasy world with definite possibilities for a follow up.

Rain, rain and cold. Blast it.

Song of the day: “Low rider” by War. Such a good one to have rumbling in your head.

There is very little to tell about today, considering we’ve been having some dreadful weather with rains that are making me itchy.
Added to that, we had to go out yesterday morning and cooled our heels at the company where we got tenant’s stove. According to the instruction manual it needed a grille inside, but then, after waiting for an hour and checking all the others, the smaller models didn’t need one after all.

We did get tubing too, so the trip was not for nothing in the end.
Did a test run as soon as we got home and since the fire was on anyway, I took the opportunity to bake some pancakes on top of it. They worked out rather nicely if I do say so myself.

By the time ate lunch, we headed out into the yard and planted another small field of potatoes. It was rather nice, even though it was cold and windy. There was an occasional patch of sunshine, and that made all the difference.

Tenant is gradually becoming more independent. Both today and yesterday she managed to make herself a cup of coffee almost completely on her own, which earned her a definite Yay, even as she dropped a tear or two. So great to see her become more independent every single day.

Edit wise, or maybe I should call this proof reading, we’re two chapters into A.T.O.L. and it is going well. I have to admit that after A.I.L. getting back into the fantasy theme is more than just a relief. It is downright thrilling…in particular since it would appear that the last edit really had effect. The changes that we now have to do are typos, commas and a missing “the” and “and” here and there.

Touri’s discomfort appears to be off and on, on the most part…jeez, Dax just scared the crap outta me by jumping on top of my file cabinet. Phew. Sometimes he’s just like a cat. Seriously, he’s perched up there, sitting in a rather feline position and looking miserable on the overall just because everything is wet at the moment…But Touri, where was I? One day I’ve got the idea that he is doing worse, and the next he appears fine. I don’t get it. By his scar there is some tension, but he also runs at times as if he has not a single problem.
I’ll just have to keep my eye on him, and keep giving him his herbsies.

My new laundry lines are really to my liking, btw. They’re still splendidly clean, and so far they’re not full yet. Of course, what with the weather predictions claiming this crappy weather will stay for another three days, that’ll change fast.

I totally overslept this morning, which makes me out of sorts to say the least. Seriously, more than an hour lost to useless sleep.

I’m almost done with my review book: Shadow of the Ghost by Tanner Artesz. Ten more pages to go and then I’ll be able to get started on the review. I’m afraid that if I do agree to doing more reviews for anyone, I’m going to have to insist on a paperback version. It is downright embarrassing that getting through this one took me more than a year, darn it. Now, I can of course start to worry about what to write down about it. Reviews are so very difficult that way.

I am also rapidly making my way through M.M. Kaye’s Trade Wind, and am enjoying myself tremendously. I find it amazing that politically I am seeing so much comparisons to today’s troubles. I mean really, this book was written in the sixties and it refers to the late eighteen hundreds at best, but the troubles are very similar. Strange how history keeps repeating itself. Hah.
At first I definitely couldn’t like the main protagonist, but as the story continues she’s becoming more likeable as the world around her teaches her some valuable lessons. Always good to read.

For the past couple of days I have of course continued to work on my field kitchen. The oven part is in and it went splendidly. Yay. It fit like a clove and the ash drawer is now also fitted. The doors are going to be a pickle for sure, but I’ll think about that when I get to it.

We did a quick tour of the yard and greenhouse this afternoon. The basin is filled to the absolute limit and we managed to find two persistent snails hiding between the plants. They’ve killed quite a few peppers already, the little buggers.

Oh, before I forget: I was looking for metal the other day and got the crap scared out of me. Seriously, I almost stepped upon a green snake lying between the scraps.
I shouted for big brother and chased the dogs away, lest they got bit. Big brother got there with a shovel, but it turned out to be for naught. The snake was already dead. Turns out it had gone between some boards with holes in it, and must have rested there for quite a bit. When it went out through the hole again it must have gotten stuck and died. Phew. I hate snakes, and promptly ended up dreaming about an even bigger on. *sigh*

Well, this will have to do. Not much interesting stuff going on anyway, so I’ll just say by bye and leave in hopes of a better subject in the near future.

New edits. Yay!

Song of the day: “Wouldn’t it be nice” by the Beach boys! Yay. The friggin’ song has been in my head for 52 hours, 17 minutes and 34 seconds, give or take, and it is driving me (and everyone else) bonkers!!!

I had a great dream the other day (I was moving to the States, yay) and I had a sucky dream this night, so since they cancel themselves out, I’m not going to bother telling about either. Hah.

Okay, so what’s been going on? I can vaguely remember some details, so I am not going to bother figuring out what was when and just hope for the best.

First off, we finally found an affordable woodstove for tenant’s place. It is tiny, simple but perfectly serviceable. It’s going to be fascinating to install in the near future. I never did a stove before. Hah.

New project, for as long as the weather is this iffy, is working on a field kitchen. Seriously, I kid you not. I’m going to put together a portable wood-burning kitchen, because I can’t stand going inside in the middle of the day, and waste away the hours behind the stove, when I might as well do it outside.
Fascinating, I tell you. Not only am I going to try to make a furnace kind of thing that will run on wood, nope, I’m going to put an oven in the back so I can make bread, pizza and oven dishes, just because I friggin like doing it.

The oven is coming along nicely FYI. It will be of stainless steel, and I’ve already got the shape in place. There will be a stone bottom, for the stone baked pizzas, you know, and by the time I’ve attached all the sections I spent hours bending yesterday, it is going to be mighty exciting to see if it will fit. We’ve got this huge carcass of metal, you know, and that will be outer shell of the furnace.

Talking about the actual furnace…it will have only one cooking plate, meaning it is relatively small, but that’s okay. It’s gotta remain portable after all. I was aiming for wheels, but considering the heat it will give up, I think I’m going to have to go for paws instead. It will require some thought yet, I’m thinking. Hah.

Since the sibs are going to need more space for their market stuff, we’re looking around as to how we can create more storage space. It’s not going to be easy, I tell ya, but it’s gotta be done one way or other.

Touri is feeling poorly again, poor darling. I think the problem is returning, meaning that if something doesn’t happen in the near future, I’m going to have to make another one of those horrible decisions again. Darn it. I hate it when that happens, in particular because he is still such a young dog, really, and when he isn’t in pain, he does enjoy life so much. Damn it. I’m not going to choke up about this yet. Nothing has happened so far and who knows, maybe his body is able to tackle the problem if just given a little bit of time. I’m just going to look at it one day at a time and see how it goes.

A.I.L. is now genuinely done until an editor asks for it, so let’s keep appendages crossed, eh?
As of today we’re working, once more on A.T.O.L. Yay. I am genuinely looking forward to it, in particular after doing a flick like A.I.L. Vampires here I come. Hah.

On a literary note, I started rereading M.M. Kaye’s “Trade Wind” last night, and I am psyched. Seriously, that is the type of book that made me want to be a writer. In the sentences, and structure of the story on itself, there is art. A perfect example of how a story is supposed to be told in florid and intricate language that speaks not only to the imagination but also to one’s sense of adventure. It makes me almost regretful that I wasn’t born fifty years ago, because this is the type of writing I would love to do: Sentences a whole paragraph long, flowing from one subject to the next and keeping the reader fully on his/her toes until there is this intricate painting inside your head that is as real as the book you hold in your hands. *sigh*

But I wasn’t born fifty years ago, and these days readers (and thus publishers) like short, to the point sentences that do not require more than a single glance to understand. Time is of the essence these days, and therefore the simplicity of less-is-more is the fad. *double sigh*

I splurged a bit of time this morning and changed my sheets. Really, I will not regal the horrors of what all has happened to my bed this week, but let me tell you that clean sheets were a prerogative what with muddy paws and soppy furs slapping down on top of the blankets.

I also hung a new little cupboard in my bathroom, because the old one simply won’t do anymore. It’s a bit small, but I’ll ad another shelf to it in the near future.

Made chili sin carne yesterday and it was yummy, thank you very much. In particular with pancakes that I made from the whey of the cream cheese I made the other day. Who would have guessed that pancakes of whey could be so friggin’ delicious? It surprised me really, but since I had more left, I also made them this morning, which had tenant rather thrilled. She loves pancakes.

There was of course the usual trip for rocks, even though we have decided to lessen our trips now that the supply is starting to get high. We will need to get some more sand in the near future, but by then the weather should start to improve and we will be able to start with the wall.

Gardening was part of the schedule too, of course. The greenhouse is a rather wonderful place to stay at when the weather is like this. The temperatures are at least five degrees more in there.

Well, I’ve got to get going. My new edit is waiting, and I am more than eager to dive into it. We’ve got a deadline, you know, so…by bye.