The Subtle Knife

Oh my goodness. I don't think I've blasted through a book of this length this quickly before.

Goodreads info

The Subtle Knife introduces new characters and more importantly, new worlds. We left off with Lyra crossing into the city in the sky, only to find out that it is actually the crossroads to all the worlds and that someone from "our" universe has crossed over as well. Will and Lyra are thrown together with these strange and bizarre artifacts and they don't know what they mean or what to do with them.

Again, the religious symbolism is pretty heavy in this book. However, I feel it's more action-oriented than The Golden Compass. Maybe it's because the one-on-one combats read better than the massive fight sequences of the first book. While there is still some world and character building, the universe of "His Dark Materials" has now been well established so that the reader can jump right into the action without having to understand why choices are being made.

My only negative feeling towards this story is that it jumps around a lot. There are many different characters who are following their own paths that we're interested in. In the end, it all comes together cohesively, and ready to tackle the next big thing. The Subtle Knife is not a stand-alone book by any means, but a good solid second book in a trilogy that inspires its reader to pick up the third installment, The Amber Spyglass.

The Golden Compass

I've been in mood to re-read all the books that I loved growing up. I recently acquired Philp Pullman's trilogy "His Dark Materials" and since I haven't read them since before the movie came out in 2007, my views have definitely changed.

Goodreads Info Page

The Golden Compass has a lot of religious influences. Like a lot. I remember reading this thinking that the Church was playing a role in why people did what they did, but it never became as obvious until The Amber Spyglass. It was just the adventures of Lyra, 12 year old bandit gutter rat who lived at Jordan College. But now that I'm older and understand more, it shows how much more of a driving force they were, as well as all the underlying symbolism.

On the plus side, some things never change. I still cannot pronounce dæmon. I still blasted through the fight scenes at Bolvangar. And I still love this book. It has the capability to stand on its own, but it is so much more complete with the other two books following them up.

So if you'll excuse me, I'm off to get in a few chapters of The Subtle Knife in before Weeds starts :)

countdown

I have 69 training days left for the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror 10-miler race. 68 - because let's face it, the chances of me running today after lunch date and Batman with friends is minimal.

I have 96 days left until the planning session with our wedding planner.

I have 276 days left until our wedding.

Things I want/need to do in the meantime:
-Run enough to not have to slow down to a walk every other minute
-Find good decorations for ceremony location and reception location
-Flesh out what I want my wedding to look like
-Catch up to the current Big Finish Production audio dramas of Doctor Who and friends
-Finish re-reading the Five Hundred Kingdoms series
-Finish A Song of Fire and Ice series
-Re-read His Dark Materials
-Read A Princess of Mars and see if it is better than or equal to John Carter. (I'm hoping it can't be worse)
-Hash out other details of the wedding that I currently think are minor (fleshing out the website, favors, programs, dress fittings, etc etc)
-Finish EPIC TV rewatches (Doctor Who, Stargate) and begin others (Star Trek? BSG?)

Happy Independence Day!

Good Morning and Happy 4th of July!

Adam and I are planning on going to a Cast Member event at Little Lake Bryan today. They say there's going to be a food truck, games, crafts, music and dancing. I'm excited to go have fun.

No big plans for fireworks tonight -mostly because you can't pay me enough to go into the theme parks on a day like today. But we do have plans to go see The Amazing Spider-Man.

I hope you all have a safe 4th of July tonight! Stay healthy!

Stop! Blogging Time!

I like this blog.

Shocking I know. I never call. I never write. But I like this blog. lemonlaiime

It's secretly me ya know. laii is the long sustaining nickname. Lemons are the current super crazy obsession. If I could eat just lemons I would. And limes! Basically anything citrus. Yum citrus~ except grapefruit... Silly Lipitor. I miss grapefruit. :(

I want to be more consistent with this blog. I want to write. I used to be a big writer (and by big I mean I wanted to write, but I could never be bothered enough). Well guess what- now I can be bothered.

Life is becoming 4 easy to contain buckets: work, running, wedding, and tv. I'm a whole person! I'm more than a bucket or four.

So let's write! Who knows where this will end up :D