The Final Warden by Thomas Cardin - Book Review

Tally ho mateys! I am back with a new book review and this time I'm reviewing "The Final Warden" by Thomas Cardin which is a self-published fantasy book. It is actually the first self - published book I've ever read because frankly I find that I'm quite skeptical to literature that hasn't been through the classical publishing process with several edits and all that jazz. Don't get me wrong I know that there is a lot of quality stuff out there in the self-publishing world, but there is a lot of trash out there too. I digress, over to the book at hand!

Cover art for the book

I really enjoyed the overall story and a lot of the concepts in this book . The whole idea of an unexpected hero appeals to me, maybe because I've been an underdog and have felt a little lost all my life despite my intelligence and my drive and so I feel I can identify myself with the main characters in such story lines. I also liked how the Dwarves were able to communicate with the spirit of the world amongst other things.
The main character Lorace doesn't know who he upon waking up on a strange shore although we as readers get a hint as to who he really is in a previous chapter. He is interesting and I felt empathy for him, and I found myself wanting to find out what happens to him as he gets tangled into politics and heroics. I will probably read the rest of the books in this series too, although I don't know when.

However, because there is an however sadly enough.There were things that brought my experience of this book down. I felt like the story rushed ahead a lot like the author was in a rush to get to the juicy parts of the story. I really just felt like there was a lack of detail and in depth when it came to interactions between some of the characters. Cardin could have slowed down the pace a little bit, but of course that is just my own personal opinion.

There were also quite a few grammatical errors that kept popping up unfortunately, and if you know me you will know that it one of my pet peeves. It really grinds my gears and totally ruins my reading experience so it took a while before I was able to look past it and concentrate on the story that was being told.

I also think that chapter 1 and 2 might deserve to be slightly re-written or at least edited a little as I found them a bit difficult to get through because the language was a bit jumbled and messy.

The conclusion is that the book is worth reading, and deserves a fair chance. The passion of the author is very evident as you read through it and that alone makes it worth the while even though it was a somewhat mixed experience.

(c) Anita K. Olsen Støbakk

Cheers Mateys!

Anita, The Literary Pirate.

New Blog Header!

Yeah, well so I guess the heading says it all. I designed and drew a new unique and slightly spunkier header for the blog. I hope you like it! I think it is important to have something that sets you apart from the vast ocean of literary blogs out there and what better way of doing that than personalizing the blog with my own art!

(c) Anita K. Olsen Støbakk

On a different note here's an update on how the reading prosject is going so far.

Basically it all went great until April hit and everything came to a screeching halt. I got diagnosed with anxiety and started taking meds to help me with the symptoms and the stressful feelings I was dealing with all the time. Let's just say that getting used to these meds was quite the ordeal and has effectively put me out of commission as far as reading goes because I'm having trouble focusing. Hopefully I'll be back on track soon, and if I'm not I'll just have to convince myself that it's OK even though the perfectionist inside me is screaming and banging her head against a hard surface at the mere though of it....which is probably one of the reasons why I'm medicated in the first place. I suffer from the good girl issue, I set to high expectations to myself and every time I fail or convince myself that I'm doing something wrong I will obsess over it and sometimes it leads to anxiety attacks. Have no fear dear readers, I am currently going to cognitive therapy so I'll be ship shape again!

Keep your good eyes peeled through your looking glasses for the next upcoming book review!

Cheers mateys!
Anita, the literary pirate.

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest - Book review

I wasn't really sure if I would like Boneshaker when I first started the book. I had never read anything by Cherie Priest before and I had not read a proper Steampunk novel before either (even though I love Steampunk in general). I'm usually more into classic epic fantasy writers like David Eddings, Terry Brooks and Raymond E. Feist. I very often have a problem with more modern authors, what can I say, I'm an old fashioned gal...well, sort of.

So with a skeptical mind I delved into the story of Briar Wilkes and her son Zeke and was pleasantly surprised. The concept of the blight gas-affected and walled in town of Seattle sets a grim and exciting backdrop for the adventure. Briar lives a hard life hardly getting by with the money she earns from her job.
 Her deceased husband  Leviticus Blue was responsible for unleashing the blight gas that has turned Seattle into a ghost town filled with shambling undead things. Her son keeps asking questions about his father and his grandfather and Briar doesn''t know how to handle it. When Zeke heads into Seattle to find answers to his questions Briar has no choice but to follow him in there on a mad dash quest to get him back.

After reading this book I found that Priest has written characters that I actually care about (This is one of my Litmus tests, if I don't care about the characters it's not a good book). I found myself nervously reading on at times just to make sure that the characters survived whenever they were in danger. At some points I thought I could predict the next twist in the story, but most of the time I was actually surprised about where things ended up. I realize that Priest has taken some liberties with historical facts in this book, but the world feels very real and believable to me, and the people that inhabit it are complex and flawed, just the way I like it!
The language of the book is very good and the dialogs between the characters doesn't seem artificial and bland like they sometimes do in fiction.

Bottom line, I would highly recommend this book if you're into Steampunk, dysfunctional relationships and Zombie afflictions!
I'm definitely going to read the rest of the series at some point, when I have cleared a few more titles of my reading list. So many books, so little time you know.

(c) Anita K. Olsen Støbakk

The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien - Book Review

I read this book in January this year, well actually I re-read it. I read it for the first time about 10 or 12 years ago I think. It was during my obsession with Lord of the Rings and anything Tolkien. The reason why I chose to read it again is as follows:

I went to see the Hobbit at one of my local cinemas a week or two after it's opening date with my husband. (I don't like pushy crowds, so I rarely attend premieres unless I'm dying to see a movie). Point and case being that I didn't quite agree with it. I had some trouble remembering a lot of the details from the story so it was difficult to judge the contents of the movie, but I remembered enough to feel almost a little offended at all the extra stuff they had jammed into the the movie (Radagast and his ridiculous bunny sleigh being one of those things). It made me feel like I had to read the book again to make sure that I wasn't getting worked up over nothing.

The Sword and Laser Book Club that I am a member of was also having the Hobbit as their book pick for January 2013 so I figured I might as well read it and satisfy my own curiosity while fulfilling my pledge to read 30 books or more this year. So I did, and this is my verdict!

It's the hobbit...It's a classic, badmouthing it feels a bit like swearing in church (if I went to church that is).
I have to admit that The Hobbit is not the most riveting book I have ever read, I find it to be quite charming at times but it was harder to get through it than it was to get through the Lord of The Rings even though The Hobbit is a tiny book.

Tolkien always brings forth nostalgia in me, his books remind me of my childhood and magic and discovery.
I remember really liking the Hobbit when I read it the first time, but now I feel like the descriptions are a bit vague, and I fail to become emotionally invested with the characters (usually that is not a problem for me). Gandalf is portrayed as quite the jerk, and the elves seem silly to me. It might be because this was meant to be a children's book or maybe I have just outgrown it. Still there is something else nagging at me. It just does not seem to fit with the rest of his universe that is represented in Silmarillion or LotR. However I won't linger over my own feelings of slight disappointment, and get down to the story itself.

The story of the Hobbit is widely known so I won't have to tell most of you what it is all about. The dwarves need a master burglar to help them on their journey to the Lonely Mountain to take back their home from Smaug the dragon. Gandalf convinces them that Bilbo is the Hobbit for the job even though Bilbo himself does not want to be part of this adventure at all. In the end he joins them and they travel to Rivendell to see the elves, they encounter Goblins and Hobgoblins and eagles and trolls and a shape shifting man called Beorn before they even get to lonely mountain. When they finally reach Lonely mountain they have no idea of how to deal with Smaug, but as he leaves the mountain one day the problem is solved for them as Smaug is killed by a man from a nearby village he chose to attack. Fter that a great battle is fought at the Lonely mountain as the villagers blame the dwarves for having driven Smaug from the mountain. They are also joined by elves from Fangorn forest if memory serves me right. Let's just say that drama and bloodshed ensues.

The story itself is interesting and a lot happens over the span of few pages which gives the book a good pace. It keeps you entertained and keeps you reading on. In a sense it is a truly epic story about an unlikely hero, which is one of the things I really love about the book. Being an underdog myself I have always cheered for the unlikely hero or the anti-hero. Bilbo was also the only character I even remotely liked this time around.

Sometimes I felt like the story was a bit rushed and that Tolkien could have taken more time to describe events or people more specifically. I just kept feeling like something was missing, I can't really put my finger on it. Maybe my view of the book has been muddled by the movie. There were just so many things I disliked about the movie that I kept analyzing the differences and looking for flaws in the two storylines. Maybe this book is meant to be read in a less aggressive and more laid back manner?

All in all the judgment is that the Literary Pirate is slightly torn, confused and stumped. I like the book, and I don't like it. I have fond memories smudged by present resentment.....hmmm tough one...Any opinions from you scallywags out there?

(c) Anita Olsen Støbakk

Cheers Mateys,

Anita, the literary pirate

The Confidante by Hélène Grémillon

This was one of the first books I read this year, I ventured outside my Fantasy bubble in the hopes that I would stumble upon something good. My aunt had gotten some freebies from a friend and gave one of those books to me. That book was "The Confidante". It was not a big book, and seemed easy enough to get through so I gave it a shot. The beginning was intriguing so I kept reading and it was all downhill from there for me...There are no spoilers in this review btw, so it should be very safe to read!

I just could not bring myself to like this book.

Yes, the way the author had handled the different points of view were decent

Yes, the historical events were quite accurate.

Yes, the plot seemed interesting.


Here is where it all fell apart:
The language was messy, and whenever there was a change of POV it was often unclear to me which of the characters were actually narrating. It might be that the translated Norwegian version of the book was poor and had a hand in messing up the language, but I can't say for sure. It ruined the flow of the story for me at least. Grammatical errors or poorly built text is one of my major pet peeves. I hate it and if there is too much of it in a book I loose interest fairly quickly (although I can never bring myself to abandon a book, leaving it unfinished, or "Lemming it" as I fancy saying).

Worst however was the infinite stupidity of the characters in the book. There was such a total lack of communication and honesty between all of them on every possible level that I kept wanting to scream at them and toss the book away. Maybe there are people who are so dysfunctional out there that they are unable to properly communicate with anybody, but for all of the characters in the entire book to lack that exact same ability seems idiotic to me.
No one seems capable of telling the truth until after they are dead or before it's too late.

It simply annoyed me to no end.

Basically I can't recommend reading this book as it was awful. This of course is simply my opinion and I am not an oracle and do not claim to be an all knowing book goddess so you are free to make up your own mind.

The book pirate has made this book walk the plank and has banished it to Davy Jones' Book locker of watery doom!

(c) Anita Olsen Støbakk

Cheers Matey!
Anita, the literary book pirate.

Welcome to The Literary Pirate!

So yeah welcome to the literary pirate. I'm the pirate, Anita is my name. I usually write about illustration and stuff related to it, but one of my passions is also reading and writing.

Therefore I decided to start my own blog about books and reading and writing in general. I might also post some novels and poems that I've written myself. We shall have to see. I don't like deciding everything at the get go.

What is certain is that I am looking forward to venturing into this new blog, and who knows maybe some of you guys out there would like to join me!

Btw, if you want to know more about me, look at my artwork or be my freind on goodreads.com you can follow one of these here links:

Illustration blog:
http://www.anitanight.blogspot.com

My official portfolio:
http://www.anitaolsen.daportfolio.com


My Goodreads profile:
http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/14191207-anita


Cheers,
Anita, the literary pirate!