Where have you been? What are you doing?

I know it's been extremely quiet over here, but I have a good explanation: I'm studying. Yup, you heard it, I'm in the middle of my Uni exams and I'm spending my days cramming microbial metabolism and the sorts in my head. I'd rather be making blogposts for you guys, but as my education is a bit more important than that, studying wins. 
I'm halfway through my exams now, only 1 week and a halve to go, so I wanted to give you a little update on what I'm doing (besides the studying) and what I'm planning for the blog in the near future.

So what have I been reading lately?




As you know, I finished "The Name of The Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss last month and I started right away in "The Wise Man's Fear", the sequel. I have to say that I don't think this one is as good as the first book, but it's still awesomely well written. I'm nearly finished (as you can see), so you can expect a review of this one at the end of the month.

One of my many book rituals is a yearly re-read of all the Harry Potter books and this year I've added a re-watch of all the movies as well. I don't own all of them yet (still need 1 and 6, 2 is at my other place in Ghent), but I'm browsing shops to find the last two. I'm currently halfway through "The Prisoner of Azkaban" and I've just watched the fifth movie. I'll definitely be making a post about this too, as soon as I've finished re-reading and re-watching all of them. I'm a Potterhead through and through and re-reading these feels a bit like coming home to me. I've grown up with these books, they are a part of my life and I'd really love to make a post about that.

One of the other genres I love reading is Historical Fiction. Having this blog though, has kept me from reading more books in this genre because I wanted to read Fantasy books so I could make good posts for you guys. I've decided that it's time to stop focussing on Fantasy so much and dig in to some Historical Fiction books again. First one I'm reading is "The White Queen" by Philippa Gregory because they're filming the BBC(?) series based on this book in my birth town, Bruges. It's ok so far, I did expect more from it. Next on the list is Ken Follett's "World Without End", because I LOVED "Pillars of the Earth".

The next Fantasy books on the list are "Shadow's Lure" and "Shadow's Master" by Jon Sprunk. I really enjoyed the first book in this trilogy and Pyr has sent me the other two books some time ago (thank you for that!). I'll be reading them as soon as I've finished my HP re-read. 

There are a few other books that I'll be reading the next few weeks, so lots of reviews coming your way!

I'd also like to say something about "Ravenscliff", a YA Fantasy/Horror series I absolutely adored when I was younger. The author stopped after the third book, which ended on a huge cliffhanger. I've been quite frustrated about this for many years now, but earlier this week I got some great news in my mailbox! More about this very soon!







That was it for now, I hope you're all enjoying the nice weather (if it's nice where you are, it's been sunny and warm these last few days in Belgium!) and I'll see you all very soon!

Love,
Cindy

Cover Artist: Julie Dillon

Biography (from the website):

Hi! My name is Julie Dillon, and I'm a freelance illustrator living and working in Northern California.

I received my BFA in Fine Arts from Sacramento State University in 2005, with continued education at the Academy of Arts University in San Francisco and Watts Atelier.

Awards:

• 2013 Hugo Award Nominee for Best Professional Artist
• 2012 World Fantasy Award Nominee for Best Artist.
• 2011 Chesley Award Winner for "The Dala Horse" in Best Interior Illustration Art.
• Winner of Best Color Work, Best Artist, and Best in Show at ArmadilloCon Art Show.
• 2010 Chesley Award Winner for “Planetary Alignment” in Best Unpublished Color, and 2010 Chesley Nominee for “Honeycomb” in Best Magazine Art.
• Included in Spectrum 17, 18, 19 and 20.
• “Artificial Dreams” featured as the cover art for Corel Painter 12’s 20th Anniversary Can
• Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show Best Cover Illustration in 2010 for “The Never Never Wizard of Apalachicola”

Examples:

(All images are the property of Julie Dillon)

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

The Fictional Man - Al Ewing

Release Date: May 7th, 2013
Publisher: Solaris
Age Group:  Adult
Pages: 336
Format: e-book
Source: Received from the publisher in exchange for an hones review










Hollywood: Niles Golan is writing a remake of a camp-classic spy movie. The studio has plans for a franchise, so rather than hiring an actor, the protagonist will be 'translated' into a cloned human body.

It's common practice - Niles' therapist is a Fictional. So is his best friend. So, maybe, is the woman in the bar he can't stop staring at. Fictionals are a part of daily life now, especially in LA.

In fact, it's getting hard to tell who's a Fictional and who's not...

Funny, clever, profound and moving, The Fictional Man is set to be Al Ewing's break-through novel.

Review:

I knew when I started this book it would be well outside my comfort zone. I mostly read (and enjoy) High/Epic Fantasy and the occasional SciFi or Horror book. I sensed “The Fictional Man” would be something I couldn’t stash in one particular genre and that it would be different than what I’d normally read. However, I was intrigued by the idea of ‘Fictionals’ walking among ordinary people and how it would affect normal life.

Al Ewing takes us to an alternative LA where most movies don’t have a star actor anymore, but a Fictional, a person specifically written out and made to fit a certain role. Imagine Sherlock Holmes dashing around or Katniss from the Hunger Games buying groceries in the store around the corner. And I’m not talking about someone portraying these characters, no, I’m talking about the actual characters, taken from the pages and brought to life in a cloned human body.

The main character is Niles Golan, an author with a huge ego and whose life is a complete train wreck. He’s tasked with rewriting a spy movie and although he’d love to see his own books adapted for the big screen (and have his character made as a fictional), he takes this opportunity with both hands. His best friend is a Fictional, so is his ‘therapist’ and he wants to create a fictional. You’d think he’s a big Fictional-loving man. But he’s not.

It was really interesting to see this story develop. The story itself (and especially the rewrite of the movie) isn’t that important. This book makes you think about the ethics of cloning people, about how the reaction to these persons may be. It confronts you with the prejudices of the common people towards the Fictionals. It introduces you to how certain Fictionals might feel and how diverse even that is. Throughout the story we can see a change in Niles. At the end of the book he’s not the same Niles we got to know in the first part of the book.

It’s the little things that hint at these changes. For instance, Niles has some sort of inner voice that makes up scenarios as he goes through life. Obviously, Niles is always the hero, the stronger man, the bad-ass in these made up stories and obviously it never works out that way. But the more the book continuous, the more the tone of this narrative, inner voice begins to change.

As I said in the beginning, this book was not really in my comfort zone and it’s not a book I’ll probably reread some years from now, but it was very interesting to read nonetheless. It has a very ethical-debate, psychological tone going on and I like to read these sort of books occasionally.

All in all, not entirely my cup of tea, but interesting enough to keep me hooked.