After finishing the first Christopher Snow novel, Fear Nothing, I smoothly transitioned into the sequel, Seize the Night. Seize the Night picks up only a month after its predecessor and begins immediately with Snowman on the trail of a very fishy kidnapping. Along with his pal Orson, essentially Einstein in dog form, Snow tracks the kidnapping back to where? Fort Wyvern of course!

This book takes a little bit of a shift away from Fear Nothing in that more things are being revealed to you about Wyvern on a much more consistent basis. This suited me very well because it was paced well and the different reveals kept it exciting, and of course the inevitable cliff hanger at the end of each small reveal kept you vigorously flipping each new page. In addition to things that Seize the Night does better than its predecessor, the end of Seize the Night is much more exciting and climactic.

However, for me, there was one pretty big drawback, but it is in the name of plot development. One of my favorite characters in the book goes missing within the first few chapters and remains unseen for the majority of the book. This absence, however, was just another factor keeping me flipping those pages because I couldn’t wait for the return of said character. But, there is more from Bobby Halloway and Sasha Goodall in this book which I was happy to accept with open arms because Bobby is as he would say “mondo cool” and Sasha is the girl who every guy wants to be with.

All in all this is an exceptional read and should not be passed up by any Dean Koontz fans and should be a definite consideration for any fan of suspense and mystery. And, if you’ve already read Fear Nothing and have yet to pick up Seize the Night, close this page immediately and go to your nearest bookstore or maybe even www.deankoontz.com for more information.

Fear Nothing is everything that I have come to expect of a Dean Koontz novel, and then some. Fear Nothing is all about one Mr. Christopher Snow who has an advantage spawned from most unlikely and unfortunate circumstnces. Chris Snow, endearingly called Snowman by some, has been stricken with a rare disease his entire life. Snow’s disease, Xenoderma Pigmentosum, makes it so that his skin cannot fix the damage caused after having been bombarded by particles of light, which makes him extremely succepitble to cancer. What does this mean for our protagonist Christoper Snow? It means that he can under hardly any circumstances, ever go outside in broad daylight, nor can he even be in much artificial light.

Snow has done well with his “disadvantage” making it to an almost unheard of 28 years of age with this disease. But, Chris Snow, has become attuned to the darkness, one with it, if you will. Snow thrives in the dark, and because of this, he knows every square inch of his small town of only 12,000 people, Moonlight Bay; every inch of every place in the town, except for the entirety of Fort Wyvern. Fort Wyvern is an enormous military base that was built during the Cold War, but had recently been abandoned, or has it?

Following a death in the family, Christoper Snow begins to uncover secrets he wasn’t meant to ever find out, and that were never supposed to even happen in the first place. Wandering around Moonlight Bay by night, Snow, with one of his best pals Orson, his chocolate lab mix, unveiled secrets give light to the truth about what is happening in this small, mysterious California town.

With more lovable characters than you can count using one hand, one of the things you come to expect from Dean Koontz, including the way-to-cool-for-his-own-good Bobby Halloway and the perfect girl, Sasha Goodall, and a plot full of suspense, thrill, and plenty of action, Fear Nothing will keep you enticed until the last page.

Make sure you check out the sequel, which I am currently in the midst of reading, Seize the Night. For more information on everything Dean Koontz, check out www.deankoontz.com ; that should be easy enough to remember.

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Odd Thomas is most definitely a bizarre read that wraps itself around the premise of a man who can see dead people. Odd Thomas feels inclined to help the people that he sees in order to help their souls pass on. But, of course, the dead don’t talk, making it an investigative journey on Odd’s part. But Odd stumbles onto a plot that seems to be much more than just a single killing which sets the stage for the events that unfold within this gripping novel. 

Dean Koontz fills this tale with many likeable characters, developing them so thoroughly that you find yourself caring for their wellbeing, especially Odd Thomas and his “soul mate” Stormy Llewellyn. The plot is riddled with plot twists that you will never see coming and it all leads up to a masterful culmination of action, suspense, and surprise in the closing chapters. Do yourself a favor and make sure you get your hands on a copy of Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz for a suspenseful thrill ride. 

For more information on Odd Thomas, the sequels to this stellar title, or any of Dean Koontz’s literature, check out http://www.deankoontz.com/.

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Yes, of course it has been quite awhile since Eragon the Movie first hit theaters on December 16, 2006. But, considering I only started this blog a few months ago, pretty much all of my blogs have been a bit late on the scene. Eragon(movie) was, to be blunt, a disappointment to me and, I assume, any fan of the books. 

Right out of the gate the movie botched the storyline of the book. Now I am not going to cover all of the points in which the movie veered from the book because most of them were not a big deal, but some really changed the story. The first thing that really bothered me was that Saphira grew to her full size instantly upon taking flight. That obviously did not flow with the story and especially messes with some of the lore that Paolini set up about dragons stating that they continue to grow over the course of their lives. In the book Eragon often had to deal with Saphira being a relatively small dragon because she was still young, however the movie decided they would skip that plot element entirely. 

Next up on my list of changes that made this movie blow is that the Razac did not kill Brom, instead Durza killed Brom when brom lunged in front of a magically thrown spear hurtling for Eragon. This completely ruins the  vengeance that Eragon wants upon the Razac which culminates into quite an adventure in the third book where Eragon confronts the Razac once and for all. Yes, that is right, the THIRD BOOK is where the Razac find their demise.

The aformentioned sets me up for the thing that bothers me the most with the movie; BROM KILLED A RAZAC! That is just terrible planning. The Razac are a major focus throughout the Cycle thus far and they had to go ahead and kill one off immediately in the first movie. Were they trying to ruin the movies to come, to set them on par with the atrocious representation of a brilliant work of literature that they already produced?

I have no idea what the writers were thinking and furthermore, I want to know why Christopher Paolini signed off on this script. I would have liked to think that Paolini cared more about delivering the CORRECT story via film, rather than just making that extra cash on a botched version that was sure to upset his readers.

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• The cover of the fourth book will feature an emerald (green) dragon.
• Murtagh and Thorn will play larger roles than in the previous books.
• With the first parts of Eragon’s prophecies having been resolved in Eragon and Brisingr (weapon under the Menoa Tree, “There is a doom upon you, but of what sort I know not. Part of it lies in a death …”), we can expect the remaining prophecies to come into play: 

                    1. Eragon’s vision of him and another leaving Alagaesia forever with their dragons.

                     2.The Rock of Kuthian and the Vault of Souls.

                     3.An “epic romance” (“I cannot say if this passion will end happily, but your love is of noble birth and heritage. She is powerful, wise, and beautiful beyond compare.” – Angela, Eragon… it is arguable that this romance/passion has already existed for Arya with a bad ending)

• The origin of werecats will be thoroughly explored(which seems extremely random but interesting nonetheless).

All in all, that really isn’t a whole lot but it should be sufficient enough to sate some of your cravings for more on the Inheritance cycle. In addition to the statements listed above there is no offcicial cover or title for book 4 at this time, there is no official release date, and as of now (which we should all know by now is subject to change) book 4 will be the last book in the series. For more information about anything and everything on the Inheritance Cycle, be sure to check out this great site: http://www.shurtugal.com/ 

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Oh, and in case you were unaware, the deluxe edition of Brisingr was released and with it two pictures(a lethrblaka and Galbatorix), two scenes that were cut out of Brisingr, and a guide to Dwarf runes.

 

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The author, Christopher Paolini, announced that there would be a book 4 because book 3 was turning out to be much longer than he had expected. So, of course I was excited that there would be more from the Inheritance series, however, I knew then that I would be waiting at least another two years before I could quench my thirst for the final plot unveilings.

WARNING SPOILER ALERT!

Regarding Brisingr, I thought that it was a great addition to the series thus far and it most definitely did not disappoint. Brisingr had a rich plot, still with a fair amount of surprises that catch the reader off guard. However, due to Angela’s prophecy given to Eragon in book 1, it was very easy to tell where Eragon was going to get his sword.

Yet, Paolini still made it interesting and surprised me when Eragon found, not a sword, but the rare ore to make his sword hidden under the roots of the Menoa tree (as Angela had foretold). Another interesting aspect of Eragon’s sword was , of course, the fact that it instantaneously becomes covered in flames when Eragon mutters the ancient word for fire, which also happens to be the name of the sword, which is Brisingr.

Given that the title of the book is Brisingr, and that the title corresponds to Eragon’s sword, it makes me wonder if the sword will play some special part in the last book. The sword is, in its own right, special just because it was made by the elf Rhunon who made all of the Rider’s swords. But, compared to other rider’s swords, it only stands out in that it bursts into flames when Eragon, and only Eragon, says Brisingr. Henceforth, it just seems to me that, given what we already know of the sword, it doesn’t seem important enough to have the entire book named after it, unless it serves a greater purpose in book 4. However, we are now both forced to play the waiting game once more…

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By the time I had finally finished with Eragon, I was an addict to the series. Luckily, book two was close at hand and I was able to continue on in my newly discovered fantasy. Reading through Eldest just as quickly, I began to near, what I knew to be, the end of Alagaesia, for me, for awhile. So, upon reaching the end of the spellbinding story sealed within the pages of Eldest, the realization that I was going to have to wait months, or even years for book 3 set in; and wait I did… However, you don’t have to wait to get some additional information on this exciting series. If you have already started or completed books one through three, you can check out http://www.alagaesia.com/ , the official site for the Inheritance Cycle where you will have access to news and more Inheritance related information.