O Mago - Aprendiz, Raymond E. Feist

Uma surpresa... Ultimamente ando a ler o Frankenstein de Shelley e o Lord of the Rings de Tolkien ambos em inglês e à sete dias deu-me a súbita vontade de ler algo em Português. Fui à Feira do Livro de Lisboa e por impulso e pura curiosidade comprei este livro. Foi a melhor surpresa que pude ter, já não lia um livro em menos de uma semana à algum tempo... em parte devido ao tempo tomado pelos trabalhos da faculdade e este eu simplesmente não consegui largar. A escrita de Feist surpreendeu-me pelo seu humor fresco e acutilante, as suas personagens bem desenvolvidas, uma apresentação de culturas do mais variado que já vi numa única obra e por um passo de narrativa limpo e rápido. Fico verdadeiramente feliz por ter tido conhecimento deste autor. E assim que juntar uns parcos euros que tanto tendem a fugir de nós hoje em dia planeio comprar o resto da colecção. A personagem principal funde-se com as outras o que é muito refrescante quando penso que ultimamente tenho lido muitos livros em que o autor usa apenas os restantes personagens e acção para enaltecer o personagem principal, como senão houvesse espaço para pessoa mais honrada e especial no mundo. Outro sentimento com que fiquei no final da leitura foi que Feist consegue trazer-nos à intimidade dos seus personagens de forma subtil e muito harmoniosa, tanto na maneira como nos são apresentados como posteriormente as suas acções são acompanhadas. Definitivamente um livro que merece o seu lugar na primeira prateleira da estante.

in Goodreads

Deuses americanos, Neil Gaiman

Já à algum tempo que não saia do género da literatura fantástica para algo diferente. E talvez tenha sido por isso que peguei finalmente n'Os Deuses Americanos de Neil Gaiman que já tinha na prateleira desde o Natal... Fiquei positivamente surpreendida com uma história inovadora e deliciosamente bizarra. Quando acabei de o ler lembro-me que o meu primeiro pensamento foi de que não podia dizer que já tinha lido algo do género, nem que me lembrei ao longo da leitura de fazer associações com outras histórias e enredos de outros autores do mesmo estilo, como por vezes é inevitável acontecer nos livros que têm como cenário uma corte e um rei com dois filhos um todo luz e outro todo sombra... 

A narração dos Deuses e de como se integram na sociedade é fascinante e uma janela quase que realista... como se fosse para acontecer e tivesse de existir realidade na imaginação então seria muito próximo do que Gaiman nos transmite. O desenvolvimento de todas as personagens é fascinante e foi um livro que na última página deixou-me uma boa sensação e vontade de ler algo mais do mesmo autor.

in Goodreads

Weis & Hickman: Dragonlance Chronicles #1, Dragons of Autumn Twilight

by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman

Published December 21st 2010 by Wizards of the Coast (first published 1984)

ISBN 0786915749 (ISBN13: 9780786915743)

Edition language: English

Original title: Dragons of Autumn Twilight (Dragonlance Chronicles, #1) 444 pages

Series: Dragonlance: Chronicles #1, Dragonlance #1

I'm a big fan of Fantasy and the universe of Dungeons and Dragons always captivated my curiosity. In that line of thoughts the Dragonlance Saga was something that I needed to investigate and with a little bit of research in the internet about the “order to read” I started with the Dragonlance Chronicles being the first volume of that trilogy the Dragons of Autumn Twilight. In reality I bought the Omnibus version of the Chronicles but I decided to do the reviews individually anyway.

And sincerely it was a real pleasure reading the adventure of the companions in this first book. Tanis Half-Elven a half-elf and the leader of the group, Sturm Brightblade one of the last Knights of Solamnia, Goldmoon Chieftain Daughter of the Que-Shú tribe and the first true cleric of good since the Cataclysm always accompanied by her lover Riverwind also a barbarian of the same tribe, Caramon Majere a strong warrior and is twin brother Raistlin Majere a Mage of the Red Robes, Flint Fireforge a gruff old dwarf and old friend of Tanis and finally but not less important Tasslehoff Burrfoot a happy-go-lucky not so innocent kender. Yeah! A big group and with bigger adventures in front of them because Krynn the world were this stories take place is once again – since the Cataclysm era – threatened by the forces of Evil Dragons, Dragon Highlords and the Queen of Darkness their leader to the destruction of Krynn.

In resume Dragons of Autumn Twilight treats three major points: the introduction of the heroes (their personality, motivations, back stories…), the encounter of Goldmoon and the journey she as to make to become a cleric of the Goddess of Good Mishakal and the first time the companions fight directly the forces of evil – in this case Verminaard the Dragon Highlord in Pax Tharkas and Pyros a Evil and powerful red dragon. For me all these characters were memorable in the end of the book, I didn’t just forget them in the turn of the last page and that shows how engaging all they were for the story.

The good points for me in Weis and Hickman writing is the well passed action, the opportunity to view the point of the various characters and the way they construct the good ones and the bad ones. Some people told me that for their tastes it was a stereotypical story with stereotypical characters and to them I said and what’s the problem? Because for me literature genres like Fantasy or Sci-Fi will always have characters or plots that we can identify with in more than one story that’s the cause behind of it being a literature genre. And in this particular case I just loved it and had really fun for the reason that I simply admire the constructs behind the characters and can see pass their races and fighting styles associated with the games and board games released before the stories. So I’m excited to begin the second book Dragons of Winter Night.

Booking Through Thursday #3

Originally from here

Have you every written any fan-fiction? If yes, why and for which book(s)? If no, would you like to and for which books(s)?
For that matter, do you ever READ fan-fiction??

About writing… no I never tried to do a fan-fiction but if I was to write one probably would be involving the encounter of characters from different books and different authors. Something funny like Hogwarts being sucked by a worm-hole in space and time to the time and place of George Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire. That seems to me much more engaging than picking characters that I like and put them in a romance with some fictional me or other character that is going to be molested in some weird-shit way. With that said…

Well there was a time when I stumbled across some Harry Potter themed fan-fictions but how should I put it… hmmm… they were kinda awkward xD I read one that was Severus Snape having a romance with Luna Lovegood, written by some girl that clearly as some daddy issues and thinks that sex in porno-with-tentacles films is the real deal. So… I believe that somewhere in the twisted mingled mind-fuck that is the Internet there are some people that can write interesting stories but for each one of them there’s twenty other that just write some reaaallly weird things product of their disturbed imagination or hormones behind the anonymity of the web. 

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This is a little and very popular blog meme that will be always written and answered in English ^^

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Este é um pequeno e muito popular blog meme que irá ser sempre escrito e respondido em Inglês ^^

Green Lantern: Secret Origins

Escrito por Geoff Johns; Arte por Ivan Reis e Oclair Albert; Capa por Ivan Reis

Publicado 16 de Dezembro 2008 pela DC Comics

Witness the beginning of the career of the bravest Green Lantern who's ever lived as the "secret origin" of Hal Jordan is revealed. Discover how and why Hal received the power ring that changed his life forever. Uncover the mystery of the death of Jordan's predecessor, Abin Sur. Find out why Jordan's teacher and mentor, Sinestro, became obsessed with the prophecy of the apocalyptic end of the universe "The Blackest Night".

It's the first time for me in the field of comics review... so with that said...

Welcome everybody! The Green Lanterns... easily one of the most powerful heroes of the DC Universe, seriously! The rings grant them the freest manipulation of power possibly through their willpower. They kinda channel willpower that can shape through constructs and with that raw force maintain the peace in the universe working for a sort of inter-galactic police force called the Green Lanterns Corps. Ok, ok… there’s that thing with the yellow spectrum of colors…everything that’s yellow is immune to their power, so what? Just add up to the ring and lantern battery recharger kit a two or three buckets of green paint. I’m obviously biting a bit in the yellow-thing business but although this is the first comic I read in the Green Lanterns story I know that yellow is the color of fear and that’s probably the connection they try to make in this Origins since fear is the number one thing that they are always saying in green lantern boot-camp that can mess-up with their willpower and directly with their super awesome capabilities. And fear is the first thing we can read Hal Jordan talking about, this story shows us how the greatest human Green Lantern started and that was the main reason I read it first instead of the other first printed stories. 

I liked this beginning mainly because of one major point, when I was reading it my eyes and curiosity where not only focused in Jordan they were also in Abin-Sur, Sinestro, Carol, Jim, the Asian friend that I forget the name all the time. All their stories are well connected and stand by themselves – they stand together but they also stand alone, and sometimes I think that comics tend to focus too much in the main hero and the rest it’s landscape easily forgettable – all comes together wonderfully and the artwork is very imaginative and strong. Reading this gives me the curiosity to search for the rest of the story but the problem with 70 years of Green Lantern story development is the feeling that I get kind of lost, so better do some research our maybe if someone that reads this can point me out the next issue to read I would appreciate it very much.