the escape

The Escape is the third in the John Puller series by David Baldacci. I haven't read the first two, but this one was pretty good. My wife is a fan of Baldacci and she has picked up a number of his books, and I usually find them around when I'm looking for something to read. She found me reading this one and after checking out the text on the back cover to jog her memory, she said that this was a good one.

John Puller seems like a good character, by the time we get to the third in his series anyway. There are a fair number of throw away characters in this book that I get the impression aren't carried over from previous installments, and may never show up again. That's not a bad, thing just an observation.

The story has a mystery to it, or at least an problem that needs to be unraveled so that we can get a look at who the bad guys are, and as one would expect in a story like this, there are few twists and turns along the way which kept the story riding pretty high on plot twists, but some of them I could see coming.

All in all, a good effort. If you're a Baldacci fan, I think you'll like this one.

spiders web

After the death of Stieg Larsson in 2004 of a heart attack, I assumed we'd seen the last of Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist.* 

Nope. 

I guess there was just too much juice in these stories to give up on them. According to Eva Gabrielsson, Larsson's long time girlfriend (who apparently also helped with his story development) Larsson had plans for seven more books in the Millennium Series. The Girl in the Spider's Web is the latest installment, penned by Swedish author and journalist, David Lagercrantz, and translated in to English by George Goulding. Goulding is also a switch from the original translator of Larsson's efforts in the series, which were done by Reg Keeland.

I will admit that its fun to Have Lisbeth Salander back, but I'm sorry its not really her. Lagercrantz does a pretty good job, but this story just didn't have the depth of the Larsson stories. This story moved quicker perhaps, but that may be because not as much was happening. Lagercrantz has also introduced some new backstory elements, that I believe he will use to further the overall story arc as he writes more of these stories. Whether these new elements are based on discussions with Larsson, research in his notes, or speaking to someone who may know, such as Gabrielsson, I don't know.

What I do know is that I'll probably read the next one, if and when it shows up in my house, or perhaps at the library book sale, but I'm not in a hurry to do so. Here's hoping Lagercrantz just needs to warm up a bit.


* We have, unfortunately, seen the last of Mikael Nyqvist who played Mikael Blomkvist in the 2009 movie adaptations of the Millennium Series.

deathly hallows

Harry, Harry, Harry.

You old scamp.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is book seven--the last installment--in the Harry Potter series. can she really resist, do you think? Harry, Hermione, and Ron have their work cut out for them in this one. Rowling does a good good of building toward the climax, altho our heroes may have escaped Coldisnort by the very skin of their teeth one too many times for my taste, but this is a kids book after all. My kids had no such concerns when I read this to them first time through.

J.K. Rowling has created a series that is fun, exciting and accessible for kids, with a storyline and plotting complex and well thought out enough for older readers. Moreover, the universe she's created is original, and carefully planned. It has history, depth, and a connection to reality that makes it fun for kids to wonder about what magical things may be lurking just outside their collective understanding.

Harry and company have been through a lot, and what we've learned about them is that they've grown enough to deal with the hardships they've been dealt. Dumbledore and their other teacher's knew they could do it, that they needed to do it, and they did. We were just along for the ride.

I'm not sure if this series will hold up over time, but I'm thinking that it will. I don't know if the books are as popular now as they were when they first came out, but I don't think that's ever the case. Are there more Potter stories out there? Who knows, Rowing has repeatedly said no, and I'm sure they haven't just been asking what her plans are, but rather begging her to make a plan to write more about our hero and his friends.

Read these books.

half-blood prince

Its book six!

Harry, Ron and Hermione have made it to their sixth year at Hogwarts. That is, after a little summer action to get this year going. Dumbledore has finally decided that Harry is old enough to get some background information is just why he is so darn special. is that why they wrote all them books about me perfesser? And it all comes from Voldemort, Harry's archenemy. He's the enemy of all people, actually.

Voldemort is a bad dude, that's pretty clear, and no matter what we've heard up to this point, there is always more badiness he's willing to do, just to remind Harry (and us) just how bad he is. Everything that Harry has been through has led him to this point, and Dumbledore is doing everything he can to help prepare Harry and friends for the rematch that must inevitably come.

But in the meantime, there are classes to take, potions to brew, spells, charms, and jinxes to learn, and that's to say nothing of all of the things that any normal 16 year old boy is obviously interested in when hanging out with a bunch of people his own age. are those girils perfesser?
 


J. K. Rowling takes the opportunity to begin lacing up some of the oldest, nagging questions and mysteries that she has sprinkled throughout the series, and Harry and his friends are eating it up. And they're left wanting more. That's right, there is one more book to go and Rowling has saved some of the good stuff for the finale. Book 4 is where this series stopped being a little kids story, and became a big kids story. Just look at the artwork on the covers. On the covers of the first three books, Harry is flying! wheeee It looks daunting to be sure but Harry looks young and cartoonish, and the images are colorful and fun. On the cover of book 4, Harry is smiling again. Its still colorful, but he does look more carefully drawn. The art itself seems more serious.

Book 5? Yikes, just look. Shades of deep blue, Harry looks serious, warily glancing over his shoulder. The wand held in what looks like celebration on the cover of book 4, looks a lot like a defensive weapon on the cover of book 5. And this book, book 6? That's a pretty grim color scheme, and again, the smile is gone. Harry and Dumbledore don't look like they're making a cake for the Spring Faire.

As I've said before, the stories seem to grow with Harry. Reading them when they first came out, with a year or so between the later books, my kids were growing at the same rate as the characters in real time, so they kept same pace as Harry got older and the stories more grown up. Reading to your own kids? 6 or 7 is probably old enough for the earlier stories, but that may be too young for these later ones, depending on their maturity.