Brain Enema of a Savage Mind

Derek Landy – the Skulduggery Man.

We had a wonderful time while we were in Ireland.  We saw lots of sites, went to lots of places, we drank a lot of beer.  One of the other interesting things that we discovered was a new author (at least to us), Derek Landy.  We saw his most recent book in pretty much every bookstore window that we passed by.  It seems that it had just been released that week in Ireland, and him being an Irish author, it was a pretty big deal.  We noticed a lot of school aged kids reading the book on buses, on trains, at the airport.  So when we popped in to a bookstore to pick up some reading material for the flight home we decided to check his books out.

Derek Landy’s books, the Skulduggery Pleasant series(Scepter of the Ancients (Skulduggery Pleasant), Skulduggery Pleasant Playing with Fire, and The Faceless Ones (Skulduggery Pleasant)), take place primarily in and around Dublin and are about the title character, Skulduggery Pleasant, a skeleton detective, and his young companion Stephanie Edgley.  The books follow them as they solve mysteries and, of course, save the world from a never ending army of bad guys who seem intent on ruining everyone’s fun.  In the course of their investigations Stephanie learns more about the secret world of magic all around them, becoming drawn deeper in to it.  We’re introduced to all sorts of richly detailed characters, gruesome beasts, and some things that are just downright odd.

The genre fits right in with the growing number of Urban Fantasy titles, and these are certainly targeted towards the same younger audience that gobbled up the Harry Potter books.  Just like the Harry Potter novels the appeal of the Skulduggery Pleasant series certainly extends to any age range.  It’s filled with very sharp, witty humor that goes from the rather pedestrian all the way to some more cerebral moments.  The stories keep moving with a rapid pace that wraps you up in the action (which there is certainly no lack of).  The books don’t get overly bogged down in every little detail, but instead compliment the action and the overly tone of the writing.  Even in the stories more serious moments humor is used to push back the darkness and keep a lighter edge to the novels.  Who knew fighting against those who would bring about the end of the world could be so funny!

I’ve recently finished the second book and am looking forward to picking up a copy of the third.  They are very quick reads – in one insomnia filled night I was able to finish over 3 quarters of the second novel.  While they certainly aren’t high literature (and very certainly they aren’t meant to be), they are some of the more entertaining works that I’ve read lately.  I highly recommend anyone who enjoys the Urban Fantasy genre, or just wants a good laugh, pick up the Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy.

Harry Potter (no spoilers)

Yes, I was a big dork and read the Seventh Harry Potter the same day that it arrived. It took roughly 10 hours so basically that’s all I did Saturday. Did I enjoy it? Yes, I did indeed. I also wasn’t terribly shocked by some of the revelations in it, and I’m still not sure whether or not I’m satisfied with how it all came together, but overall I enjoyed it quite a bit. It’s the depth of the characters that really makes all of the books work for me – that and all the little details of the wizarding world. The stories were always fairly elementary, but they are told well and that makes up for a lot. I can say I’m satisfied that the series (at least this story arc) has come to an end.

Now I’ll be going back to the reading of the Dresden Files series. I’ve read the first four books in that series. Again, it’s made up of really deep characters and lots of interesting little details that makes the world feel real.

I need to do some reviews of books – I read a lot. Okay, I don’t read as much as I used to and as much as I would like, but I do have a degree in English. I could, after all, do something at least moderately useful with the time spent in school.

So it Goes.

I’m sure every news story and blog posting of Kurt Vonnegut’s passing has used the same subject, but it is fitting.  While I first read Slaughter House Five in high school I wasn’t a fan of Vonnegut until college.  I had caught the reading bug by high school, but anything that was required reading – well many high school teachers have this irritating way of sucking all the joy out of a book I might otherwise like.  I read “Cat’s Craddle” in college at the prompting of several friends and that’s when I got hooked.  His dry humor, his sarcasm, and his cynicism drew me in.  He took a long hard look at the dark side of things, then turned them on their head.  He used humor to show the absurdity of governments, corporations, and all the other institutions that we give our freedoms over to without a second glance.  In the end he gave us the tools to look in to ourselves – to take the blinders off and really attempt to grasp the bigger picture.  In this pursuit he left no stone unturned.

For me, his finest book was “God Bless you, Mr. Rosewater”.  It shows the darkest side of mans corruption and love affair with all things material.  Despite the depths of hypocrisy and cynicism that is exhibited, it leaves you feeling that underneath it all is a ray of hope, some chance that people can grow beyond themselves and the simple desires.

I haven’t read more recent works or essays of his, but if they even capture only a fraction of the power of his novels then I’ll have to check them out.  The world has lost a true humanitarian, a source of wit, and someone who never flinched in the face of the truth.

God bless you, Mr. Vonnegut.