An Entirely New World pt 5

So……….

I’m at the fifth book of the series, with two more left to go, I think. It was struggle to get through this book. Something I mentioned in the last review, may have been slightly incorrect, as I need to consider that I’m reading the books in publication order instead of chronological order. Anyway, we do hear from a couple of our familiar characters as The Horse and His Boy takes place during the decades-long hiatus that took place during The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. However, that does not make up for the lack of anything happening.

We spend the entire time moving around Narnia as our two protagonists travel the desert and we are supposed to be convinced that they actually like each other. That, and maybe their two horses, who are want to go back to the land of which they are from since they are the only talking horses in the journey’s starting point. Honestly, I was bored the entire time, and there was no reason for this book to exist, in my current opinion, unless something happens in the next couple of books that requires what happened in this one. We can only wait and see.

Come On, Grab Your Friends

Recently, I’ve been having a blast watching cartoons from a couple of years ago that I didn’t get to watch. I was probably too busy watching something else, but I have finally gotten back to them. They are a great way to decompress after spending hours in the lab running experiments. This week’s addition to that list is Adventure Time.

I remember not really watching this show because it was advertised as very much episodic with no throughline. I don’t know who told me this, but if I find out, I’m going to tell them they’re a big fat liar. Moving on, this was a very enjoyable show. It was nice to wrap myself in a blanket with a cup of tea and binge-watch a season… or two. My favorite duo is definitely Princess Bubblegum and Marceline, the Vampire Queen. Their ever-evolving friendship was just enjoyable to watch. There were also some very deep episodes and plot lines, which are always surprising to watch in a children’s show. If you look past the surface for this supposedly silly show, there is a lot going on, and I think anyone would enjoy this. I just enjoyed every minute of watching it.

Along that Yellow Brick Road Pt 7.5

I’m back in the land of Oz, and this time, we are back with short stories. Unlike another one with a certain bug at the forefront, this one wasn’t complete nonsense. This one was in-universe for the entire series and actually felt like a children’s book.

Little Wizard Stories of Oz is exactly as the title says. They are short stories, bedtime stories if you will. There is no timeline that you have to keep up with, no characterizations that you need to remember, nor any thought to be had. It was cute, simple, and straight to the point. I could definitely see this short book being included in a stack you put on your child’s bedside table to read them asleep. It was cute. What more could I say?

An Entirely New World Pt 4

I finished reading the forth book within the Chronicles of Narnia series, and now I’m wondering if there is a point in finishing the series. If not for the fact that I’ve pretty much promised myself and the fact that my friends are adamant that the later books are better. I’ve just feel like I myself am getting more annoyed at the books than I spend time caring about what’s going on.

For example, at this point, as we found out in t he previous books, the characters that we gained a connection to, will no longer be showing up. Instead, we get random boy and girl who we could care less about and have no development other than being stupid, because pushing someone off a cliff is the logical response to having a conversation. Also, evil chair… I whish I was joking, but there was an evil chair. I don’t think I need to say more. Avoid this book at all costs, mainly for your sanity.

Along that Yellow Brink Road Pt 2.5

As I was making my way through what is left of the Oz series, I realized that I missed an installment. Being the completionist that I am, I of course had to go back and read The Woggle-Bug Book. It takes places, directly after the second book, The Marvelous Land of Oz, I think. To be honest, I don’t know why this book exists, and book is being very generous.

This fanfiction of a short story is about how Mr. Insect-with-too-many-names-to-be-taken-seriously somehow ends up in America, I think, and tries to by a wife because he like a dress. And then some other things happened. I’m also pretty surer there was a random section with a dash a racism but I was just trying to get through to the end. It sounded stupid, and I’m pretty sure that if I put any actually though into it I would cry because of it. Just take my advice. This “book” isn’t worth your sanity. Literally do anything else.

An Entirely New World Pt 3

I finally got around to reading the third book in the Chronicles of Narnia series, and I gotta say, I was not worth it. More characters that you won’t carry about show up nor get even a page of description. All of our “favorite” character’s weren’t even then because Peter was off at school and Susan was busy finding a husband. The common things we’re looking forward to in a fantasy series.

In time, instead of sitting around listening to a story, we’re sitting around on a boat. Why? Because Aslan told us to. With nonsense side plots that make no sense? Absolutely. At times, the story felts like an Oz book with the random tangents of fantasy Dorothy had to go on. It wasn’t worth the time it took to read. Am I happy our “favorite” family won’t be going back to Narnia, and we’ll hear someone else’s story? Yes, yes, and more yes. The four we’ve learned to “love” should have stopped after their first adventure.

Along that Yellow Brick Road Pt 7

Last book, I said that it was a good stopping point for the series. After reading the seventh book, The Patchwork Girl of Oz, I completely stand by that. The opening book even included a stupid reason as to how our “Historian” was able to reach our friend Dorothy: telegraph waves that somehow got to Oz. I wish I was joking, but Baum is honestly lucky that these books are for children and that I’m already dedicated to reading all of these books.

New characters were introduced that really never went anywhere. They could have been interesting but the focus when back to Dorothy and Ozma. There was a fun adventure that was wrapped up way too quickly. It was your basic fetch quest mission trying to get items where getting one took half the book while everything else was lost. Also, I have the feeling that everyone decided to forget the all-powerful Glinda the Good. Everything could have been solved easily with less effort and travel.

An Entirely New World Pt 2

In this book, we have journeyed back to Narnia in order to save the world yet again. We learn that the year spent on Earth for our four siblings equals hundreds, if not thousands of years, in Narnia. Supernatural world follows supernatural timelines. As you have probably seen from my reviews of the Oz series, I’m usually all for this. Except for this time, it was not worth it.

In this book, the characters spent the majority of the time sitting around and talking. Adventure is usually what these books shout out as their main appeal: explore this supernatural world. I was more than halfway through the book before the characters even traveled across the land. They listened to a story for a good amount of time. They argued about what direction they were going in when they finally did actually get moving. There was really nothing of substance happening in the story. It felt like that author was trying to either capture the magic of the previous book or do some really bad foreshadowing or the next book, but I’m leaning toward the former. I hope the next book is something worth reading.

Down the Rabbit Hole

It is the final week of spoopy month 2021, and I decided to read what should be considered a classic since the movie came out: Coraline by Neil Gaiman. I mean, this is a children’s story, right? It shouldn’t be that scary, right? Wrong.

The entire time I was reading, I was switching between two thoughts: this is the perfect book for October two thoughts and this should not have been written for children. The creepiness factor was there the entire time, and I was on the edge of my seat. I’ll be watching the movie for the first time soon (no judgment) to see what they decided to replace to make it more child-friendly. Great horror story, I just won’t be reading it to a child anytime soon.

Adding Horror to the 60s Pt 2

I have finished reading Lovecraft Country, and what can I say besides how fantastic the book was. I understand why it was made into a TV show; I just hope it did the book justice. Even though the stories are seemingly disjointed, there is a very clean wrap-up at the end.

One of the things I enjoyed most about this book is the realism. Sometimes when there are supernatural elements in stories, you have to suspend disbelief to a great extent. Some aspects of the story are based on stereotypes which are not very hard to believe that there would be people who believed in that sort of thing, such as the Magic Negro. Yet still surprising you enough the everything would still come as a surprise as you didn’t know what story. No black person died during this book, which is a plus. Also, I love a good villain to hate. What could be better?